New Kenshoo Research: Mobile Ads Overtake Desktop in Paid Search for the First Time, Now Lead Spending in Both Social and Search

Social Impression Volume Increased Year-Over-Year for the First Time in Four Quarters; Mobile Shopping Ad Impressions Surged in Paid Search in Q2 2018

Kenshoo, a global leader in marketing technology, released a new infographic, Kenshoo Digital Marketing Quarterly Trends Report: Q2 2018, detailing spending growth in social (40%) and paid search (10%) year-over-year (YoY) in Q2 2018. Key findings include:

• Social spending increased 40% YoY and decreased 1% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ)
• Social impressions increased 15% YoY and decreased 10% QoQ
• Social clicks increased 94% YoY and decreased 13% QoQ
• Social click-through rate (CTR) increased 69% YoY and decreased 3% QoQ
• Social cost-per-thousand (CPM) impressions increased 21% YoY and 8% QoQ
• Paid search spending increased 10% YoY and 4% QoQ
• Paid search impressions increased 20% YoY and 6% QoQ
• Paid search clicks increased 24% YoY
• Paid search CTR increased 4% YoY

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Social Spotlight

• Facebook’s inventory refinements — including the removal of right-rail ads — caused three quarters of consecutive decline in impression volume; nearly a year later, impression volume increased YoY for the first time (+15%).
• Instagram spending doubled YoY with Instagram Stories accounting for 11% of spend on Instagram ads.
• Video ads contributed to the QoQ increase in CPM, while Carousel ads were a primary driver of the uptick in CTR.

Search Spotlight

• Mobile accounted for the plurality of spending, accounting for 48% of search spending, while desktop accounted for 44% and tablet 8%.
• Rapid adoption of inexpensive mobile shopping ads depressed cost-per-click (CPC) for advertisers (-12% YoY).

“Social advertising continues to evolve and it’s changing the way many advertisers use it to reach consumers. Event-driven video campaigns, for example, now extend beyond traditional verticals of gaming and entertainment, reaching into e-commerce and even finance, while more specialized ad types capture the resulting demand,” said Chris Costello, senior director of marketing research for Kenshoo. “Meanwhile, search marketers have fully embraced consumers’ adoption of mobile devices, shifting spend to mobile campaigns to ensure they’re present across the full funnel of consumer search activity. For the first time, spending on mobile search ads surpassed desktop and is near capturing the majority of ad spending.”

Kenshoo leads the way in digital marketing innovation, enabling success for marketers by maximizing customer lifetime value. Built upon Kenshoo’s industry-leading and award-winning digital marketing platform, Kenshoo delivers infinite optimization to re-engage and grow customers across the world’s leading publishers and all devices.

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