Marin Software, a leading provider of digital marketing software for performance-driven advertisers and agencies, released research findings from its global Q2 2018 Digital Advertising Benchmark Report. As search spend continues to grow from increased clicks and CPCs, Marin Software’s report identifies eCommerce as another channel quickly gaining traction thanks to increased spend on Amazon.

Marin Software presents its full research, results, and takeaways  in an interactive format that allows viewers to review and analyze ad spending trends by region, industry, and publisher. Key findings include:

• Search Driven by Clicks and CPCs: 13% year-over-year growth in search spend was driven almost equally by increased click volume and rising CPCs, with the average global CPC increasing from $0.80 in Q2 2017 to $0.85 in Q2 2018.
• Amazon on the Rise: Amazon captures approximately 20% of digital budgets for Marin clients active on that channel. Sponsored Product Ads represent 79% of that spend, with Headline Shopping Ads representing the remaining 21%.
• Social CPCs Up, CTRs Down: While social CPCs increased by 3% since last quarter, averaging $0.184, CPMs ($3.07)and CTRs (1.67%) dropped slightly from Q1 2018. This difference may relate to recently enacted privacy regulations and increased consumer awareness of highly publicized data breaches—each potentially reducing overall consumer ad engagement on social channels.

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“While Google and Facebook continue to be the most prominent channels for digital ad spend, we’re now seeing more and more early adopters experimenting with Amazon’s ad offerings,” said Wes MacLaggan, SVP of Marketing at Marin Software. “Amazon has essentially become a massive search engine for consumers far down the purchase funnel and we’re eager to help advertisers increase their presence on this important channel in quarters to come. This is a really exciting time to be involved in the digital advertising space, and I’m looking forward to exploring Amazon’s impact on the marketing landscape in 2018 and beyond.”

To create its Q2 2018 Digital Advertising Benchmark Report, Marin Software aggregated data from customers who invest billions of dollars in combined annualized ad spend on paid search, social, mobile, and eCommerce.  Marin Software only includes those advertisers active on its platform for the past five quarters, measuring key performance indicators on a year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter basis, and removing any outliers with significant YoY or QoQ changes.

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