Meta India is growing faster than Google - Here’s why

In the fiscal year ending March 2024, Google India and Meta India found themselves neck and neck in a race that wasn’t quite as tight a year ago. Google India recorded an 11% increase in gross advertising revenue for the fiscal year ended March 2024 to Rs 31,221 crore from Rs 28,040 crore in FY23, according to its filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), while Meta India saw its advertising revenue grow to Rs 22,730 crore, registering an increase of 24%. In a market as fast-paced as India’s, this level of acceleration begs the question: what’s driving Meta’s rapid ascent, and how is it closing in on a giant like Google?

Amit Verma, co-founder and CEO of DigitUp, believes Meta’s accessibility for small businesses is one of the key factors behind its impressive growth. “For many individual sellers and small businesses, setting up an ad on Meta platforms is far easier than on Google. All they need is an account,” he explains, emphasising Meta’s appeal to vendors of all kinds—from jewellery artisans to soap makers—who now find a thriving marketplace on Facebook and Instagram. This simplicity, coupled with affordability, has made Meta a favourite among small and micro-businesses across India, fueling its growth.

Ramya Parashar, COO at MiQ, concurs that Meta’s cost-effective approach holds particular appeal for Indian advertisers. “Compared to search and display ads with Google, Meta advertising solutions tend to be more cost-effective for most advertisers in India,” she notes, adding that this resonates especially with smaller businesses and D2C brands seeking high ROI through targeted social ads.

Parashar highlights how Meta has localised its strategy by focusing on regional languages and content, making ads more engaging and relatable. “Meta has localised its strategies to the Indian context , so ads can become more enjoyable and effective at targeting locales,” she explains, crediting this contextual adaptation as key to Meta’s recent growth spurt.

According to Gopa Menon, Chief Growth Officer for APAC at Successive Digital, Meta’s success in India goes beyond just accessibility. “Facebook and Instagram continue to be incredibly popular in India, boasting a massive and highly engaged user base,” he notes. Meta’s extensive reach allows advertisers to engage with a diverse audience effectively, providing fertile ground for ad revenue growth. Menon points to Meta’s strategy of rolling out SMB-friendly tools and social commerce features as a decisive factor, saying, “Meta has been actively courting SMBs in India, providing them with accessible and affordable advertising tools.” This approach, he explains, has expanded Meta’s user base significantly, giving it an edge in India’s mobile-first market.

Meta’s growth has also been accelerated by short-form video, where it has dominated the market through Instagram Reels. Menon highlights the power of short-form video ads, explaining, “Short-form video ads are highly engaging and have proven effective in capturing users' attention.” He notes that YouTube Shorts , Google’s answer to Reels, was slower to gain traction. As a result, Reels has been a major growth driver, cementing Meta’s hold on a younger, trend-focused audience eager for quick, engaging content.

Preetham Venkky, Chief Digital Officer at DDB Mudra Group, attributes Meta’s rapid ad revenue growth in India to its aggressive short-form video strategy and user-centric approach, especially through Instagram Reels and WhatsApp business messaging. He emphasises that the competition between Meta and Google in India represents a larger global trend: “We're seeing an average growth rate of about 25 percent between Google and Meta, with Meta aggressively closing the gap,” Venkky noted, indicating Meta’s momentum in the digital advertising space.

Highlighting WhatsApp’s role in Meta’s ecosystem, Venkky pointed out that while WhatsApp alone doesn’t generate ad revenue in the traditional sense, it strengthens customer relationships and conversions. “WhatsApp is far more effective than email for conversions, especially in India, where customer loyalty and direct engagement are crucial,” he said, emphasising WhatsApp's role in long-term business growth for Meta.

Meanwhile, Rahul Vengalil, CEO and Co-founder of TGTHR, suggests that Meta’s rapid growth rate, though impressive, should be understood in context. “The growth rate of Meta may be higher than that of Google, but you should also look at the base. Google is sitting on a far higher base number than Meta,” Vengalil points out.

Google’s ad revenues remain larger overall, largely thanks to YouTube’s dominance in long-form content. Still, he acknowledges that the time spent per user on Meta platforms is likely higher, which translates into more ad impressions and, consequently, more revenue for Meta.

Vengalil also believes that Meta’s standardisation of ad units contributes to stronger user engagement, especially when compared to Google’s complex array of responsive ad formats. “Meta has standardised most of the ad units, leading to a comparatively better impact.” Google’s sprawling array of responsive ad formats and the integration of AI , Vengalil adds, may have limited the number of ad pages seen by users, indirectly favouring Meta’s streamlined approach.

All the experts agree that Meta’s recent success is rooted in a strong understanding of the Indian market. As Menon puts it, “Meta’s success in India can be attributed to its strong understanding of the Indian market and its ability to adapt to the evolving needs of advertisers and users.” This mobile-first approach, combined with high engagement from Reels and SMB-focused tools, has helped Meta rapidly increase its revenue share in India.

Venkky argues that Meta’s advantage is built on a deep understanding of Indian consumption patterns. For instance, while Google dominates long-form video through YouTube, Meta has taken a lead in short-form content via Instagram Reels, which has particularly thrived in markets without TikTok. “Attention is shifting more towards short-form video, and Meta’s early adoption has given it disproportionate gains in the Indian market,” he explained, adding that Reels has capitalised on cultural trends and evolving content styles, from dance-offs to whatever else Gen-Z is up to these days. This dynamic format keeps users engaged, providing an ideal platform for brands in categories like lifestyle, beauty, and fashion to interact with consumers, as opposed to the 'edutainment’ more common to YouTube.

Despite Meta’s strong showing, however, Google’s influence is far from waning. YouTube remains unmatched in long-form video and is now essentially competing with OTT platforms, a distinction that Venkky believes will keep it relevant for years to come. “YouTube remains unmatched in long-form video, but Meta leads in top-of-funnel, short-form content that draws user attention,” he explains, adding that while Meta may be gaining on Google’s growth rate, Google’s deep reach in search and long-form video content still anchors its dominance.

As India’s digital ad market grows, both Google and Meta will continue to innovate and evolve. For now, Meta’s dynamism and digital accessibility have made it the rising star, with Instagram Reels providing the firepower to capture more of India’s attention and ad dollars. Google, however, isn’t bowing out any time soon, holding strong with the steady weight of YouTube and its vast search ecosystem. The race between these two titans is heating up, and if FY 2024 is any indication, India’s advertisers and users are in for an exciting ride.