Study: Global Social Media Ad Spend Soars, Signaling Brand Confidence in Digital Channels

Socialbakers, the leading social media marketing platform, released a comprehensive report on Social Media Trends for Q3 2020. The report reveals that despite a turbulent three quarters of COVID-related challenges in 2020, social media ad spend rose sharply in Q3 to pre-pandemic levels, led by increased investment in e-commerce ads. Other insights from the report include the regions and industries which are showing the strongest ad spend recovery, a significant global increase in cost-per-click (CPC) and a shift in audience attention to digital channels

“More than ever, today’s consumers are digitally grounded. The rapid shift towards digital presents both a challenge and an opportunity for brands. Socialbakers’ Q3 social media ad spend data shows us that savvy brands are doubling down their investment in advertising across Facebook and Instagram,” said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO, Socialbakers. “In North America alone, brands have invested 61% more in Q3 than they did in Q2, largely due to confidence returning as consumers spend more time engaging and purchasing online.” 

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Global Social Media Ad Spend Soars 56.4% in Q3 2020

Compared to Q2, worldwide social media ad spend increased by 56.4% last quarter. That makes the Q3 global spend average nearly double what it was during the lowest point of the pandemic in late March. The largest increase took place in North America, where ad spend increased by 61.7%. The average industry ad spend increased by 38.9% in Q3, with large jumps from FMCG Food (up 61.3%), Auto (up 59.4%) Finance (up 35.3%) and Ecommerce (up 27.5%).

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CPC Reaches Its Highest Point Since 2019

The worldwide cost-per-click increased by 42.4% in Q3, compared to where it was at the end of June. At $0.168, global CPC is now at its highest point since the end of 2019.

Facebook Ad Reach Expands, Instagram Continues to Dominate

The reach for Facebook ads in North America expanded dramatically by 134.9% in Q3 compared to the same period last year, according to Socialbakers data. Other notable increases in Facebook ad reach were seen in Latin America (up 49.7%), Western Europe (up 31.3%) and Central America (up 31.2%). Worldwide, Facebook ad reach increased on average by 12.3%.

Meanwhile, Instagram continued to outperform Facebook in Q3. The audience size of Instagram’s 50 biggest brand profiles was 34.7% larger than that of Facebook. Instagram also generated significantly stronger engagement than Facebook, which had 22x more interactions. Despite this, 61.9% of all brand posts in Q3 were published on Facebook.

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