'We only spend if we can deliver ROI': Meesho recasts ad monetisation with seller-centric approach

Social commerce platform Meesho has moved away from traditional advertising models such as Cost Per Click (CPC) and Cost Per Mille (CPM), opting instead for a performance-led, ROI-based ad system. Speaking to Storyboard18, co-founder and CTO Sanjeev Barnwal said the company asks sellers to specify the minimum return on investment they expect from their ad spends, and Meesho’s AI decides whether that spend can deliver the defined outcomes.

“If a seller wants a 10x return on a Rs 100 ad budget, we will spend that money only if our algorithms see a clear path to generating Rs 1,000 in incremental sales,” Barnwal said. “If we don’t see that opportunity, we simply do not spend the money. That’s the approach we’ve taken.”

Advertising has become one of the largest ancillary revenue streams for global e-commerce platforms, supported by native formats, self-serve dashboards and programmatic buying. In India, ad monetisation is gaining traction even in low-ticket and unbranded categories. Advertising contributed nearly 3% of total e-commerce GMV in FY2025—still below global benchmarks of 5–10%—signalling significant headroom for Indian platforms to scale high-margin ad revenue.

Beyond advertising, Meesho is also doubling down on content commerce, a model inspired by China. Co-founder Vidit Aatrey said the company enables sellers to choose influencers, set commissions and leverage short-form video content across Meesho and social platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Influencers earn commissions for sales generated through their content.

“It’s a win-win for influencers and sellers,” Aatrey said. “Creators who couldn’t monetise their audience earlier are now doing so, and sellers who never had access to influencers now do.” Nearly one million influencer videos contributed to seller sales over the past year, and Meesho plans to expand investments in the format post-listing. The platform now works with over 50,000 influencers.

India’s content commerce market, estimated at Rs 60–119 billion in FY2025, is projected to grow at a CAGR of 30–40% through FY2030—faster than overall e-commerce. Despite accounting for just 1–2% of the domestic e-commerce market today, the segment lags far behind Indonesia (20–30%) and China (40–50%), indicating substantial runway for growth. Rising influencer density, high mobile engagement and young consumer demographics position India to follow a similar adoption curve, Aatrey added.

Meesho’s IPO opens for subscription from December 3 to 5, with a price band of Rs 105–Rs 111 per share and a lot size of 135 shares. The company aims to raise Rs 4,250 crore via a fresh issue, while existing shareholders will offload 10.55 crore shares through an offer-for-sale. Listing is scheduled for December 10.