Sadhguru, Koo, and Voot Select were Meta’s largest Indian advertisers

Meta might be reporting its first-ever drop in quarterly earnings, but Indian advertisers appear to be very keen on spending on these platforms still. According to data collected by a Hyderabad-based enterprise digital marketing agency called Pyrite Technologies, Indian advertisers have been investing a lot in advertising on Meta Platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

While this might not surprise a lot of people, what is surprising is, however, the list of high-profile Indian advertisers who topped the charts. Pyrite Technologies’ data revealed that Sadhguru and his organisation Isha Outreach topped the charts for advertising spends on Meta’s platforms followed by microblogging app Koo and OTT platform Voot Select.  

This data has been sourced from Meta Ad Library and the report states that advertising spends under social and political causes are declared publicly. This also means that mainstream brands who do not fall under these categories, and thus, do not need to make their spends public, spend “significantly more” on advertising.

According to the data, Sadhguru has spent Rs 9,924,933 in the last 90 days (April 27 to July 25, 2022), followed by Koo spending Rs 8,674, 719, and Voot Select pumping in Rs 6,728, 254. The fourth on the list, social networking app Kutumb, spent about Rs 2,000,000 lesser than Voot Select (Rs 4,817, 337).

Some of the mainstream brands on this list include personal financing app Mint (9th), Johnson and Johnson’s TB campaign, and LG global that ranked 14th and 16th respectively. Others on the list were GiveIndia and Meta itself along with some political organisations like Prashant Kishore’s Jan Suraaj, BJP and BJP Gujarat.

The list throws some valuable insights into how home-grown social media apps (like Koo) are using Facebook and Instagram to get to the Indian audience. What’s easier to understand is the push some brands are making to make themselves seen and heard.

Sadhguru’s Conscious Planet initiative to Save the Soil was heavily promoted on social media, while Kishore and Jan Suraaj used these platforms to spread the word about the 3,000-km Padyatra planned in Bihar soon. Given these issues, an “advertising blitzkreig” is easier to understand.

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