Brands’ spend on Instagram ads increased 94% year-on-year (YoY), faster than spend on core Facebook ads (37% YoY) in the third quarter of 2018 according to new research.
The latest global quarterly social and search advertising data from Kenshoo indicates that Instagram and Video ads were the biggest drivers of YoY growth for Q3, while ads on smartphones made up 81% of all social ad spending suggests the research which is presented in a new infographic, Kenshoo Digital Marketing Quarterly Trends Report: Q3 2018.
Paid search spending on the likes of Google and Bing continues to grow at a steady +10% YoY, with clicks on paid search clicks increasing 28% YoY while impressions increased 38%.
The data is taken from a population of over 3,000 advertiser and agency accounts across 20 vertical industries and over 60 countries, spanning Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, Yahoo!, Yahoo! Japan, Pinterest, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon and the Facebook® Audience Network. The resulting sample includes more than 500 billion impressions, 14 billion clicks and $6 billion (USD) in advertiser spending.
Spotlights:
- Instagram spending increased 94% YoY, faster than core Facebook spending (37% YoY)
- Instagram and Video ads were the biggest drivers of YoY growth for Q3
- Mobile paid search shopping campaigns have grown considerably in volume with no degradation of performance, providing a clear opportunity for e-commerce marketers in the upcoming holiday season
- Pinterest spending across all Kenshoo advertisers in Q3 exceeded its previous high in Q4 of last year, setting the stage for another strong seasonal increase
Key findings include:
- Social spending increased 40% YoY and 12% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ)
- Social impressions increased 24% YoY and 7% QoQ
- Social clicks increased 51% YoY and 5% QoQ
- Social CTR increased 22% YoY and decreased 3% QoQ
- Social cost-per-thousand (CPM) impressions increased 14% YoY and 6% QoQ
- Paid search spending increased 10% YoY and 1% QoQ
- Paid search impressions increased 38% YoY and 12% QoQ
- Paid search clicks increased 28% YoY and 6% QoQ
- Paid search CTR decreased 7% both YoY and QoQ
- Paid search CPC decreased 15% YoY and 5% QoQ
“The rumors are true that marketers accelerated the push on Instagram over Facebook in Q3, but overall, social still grew at a steady rate, in part because direct-response ads — notably dynamic product ads in the social channel — are providing value to marketers, that extends across all channels,” said Chris Costello, senior director of marketing research for Kenshoo.
“Kenshoo sees the increasing value of these product-focused ads across paid search, social, ecommerce and Pinterest as evidence that marketers are getting better and better at capturing the demand that is stimulated by branding efforts, like video and Instagram Stories. That demand is only going to get stronger over the holidays.”
Kenshoo provides best-of-breed, full-funnel marketing activation on the channels with highest customer engagement, including search, social, and ecommerce, enabling success by maximizing channel impact and customer lifetime value. As the industry’s leading and award-winning digital marketing platform, Kenshoo delivers opportunities to re-engage and grow customers across the world’s leading publishers and all devices.
Visit Kenshoo.com/Digital-Marketing-Snapshot to download the new infographic, Kenshoo Digital Marketing Quarterly Trends Report: Q3 2018.
Methodology
Except where noted, analysis is based on Kenshoo advertisers with 15 consecutive months of performance data taken from a population of over 3,000 advertiser and agency accounts across 20 vertical industries and over 60 countries, spanning Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, Yahoo!, Yahoo! Japan, Pinterest, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon and the Facebook® Audience Network. Some outliers have been excluded. The resulting sample includes more than 500 billion impressions, 14 billion clicks and $6 billion (USD) in advertiser spending.
Ad spending and CPC are measured using Ex-FX or “Constant Currency” adjustments, where results are based on native currency, and only translated to common currency after aggregation.
