Facebook advertising quarterly report q1 2014

Facebook advertising quarterly report q1 2014 from Lê Anh Tuấn

1. 1. 1 SOCIAL MEDIA # # SHARELIKE Social Advertising Quarterly Report Socialbakers Quarterly Ads Benchmark Reveals News Feed Ads Dominate CTRs and Share of Spend
2. 2. 2 1. Introduction Social advertising continues to grow at a rapid rate, with the majority of that growth coming from Facebook. Now, 92% of social marketers report that they are using Facebook for advertising. Facebook is a powerful advertising platform, but there are some who still debate its value for brands. Although a lot of writing focuses on claims that Facebook’s organic reach is declining in favour of paid ads on the platform, most brands find that Facebook advertising is highly efficient and generates long term ROI. This report will take a look at Facebook advertising in detail to showcase what has changed from Q2 2013 through Q1 2014. Which Facebook ad placements and types work the best In this report you will learn Average KPIs by industry Average KPIs by region Forecast on Facebook Q1 quarterly earnings for advertising
3. 3. 3 Methodology KPI Definitions We’ve pulled together data from the Socialbakers Ad Analytics tool, industry data, and Facebook quarterly reports to present our quarterly Facebook advertising report. Data has been analysed from April 2013 - March 2014 for verticals, and April 2013 - February 2014 for all other sections. We have looked at more than 2,000 advertising accounts and aggregated their performance (impressions, spend, clicks) into ad types, placements, regions, and verticals. Click-Through Rate (CTR) Number of clicks divided by number of impressions per ad. Example: If the CTR of an ad is 1%, that means that 1% of everyone who saw the ad clicked. Cost per Click (CPC) Total cost divided by number of clicks per ad. Cost per Impression (CPM) Total cost divided by number of impressions per ad, multiplied by 1000. Example: A business may have bought 10,000 impressions at a CPM of $5, meaning they spent $50. Determining the right ad placements is crucial for increasing the effectiveness of your ads. Why? Certain types of ads perform better in general - such as ads in News Feed- while others work better based on the content that is distributed. Here is a quick list of the six different types of ad placements that advertisers can choose from when setting up an Ad Set: All Facebook - Will create variations for every type of ad placement Desktop - Will create 2 variations (News Feed Desktop and Right-Hand Side) News Feed (Desktop and Mobile) News Feed (Desktop) News Feed (Mobile) Right- Hand Side 2. Ad Placements 1.2 1.1
4. 4. 4 Here, we look at CTR and the breakdown of ad placement effectiveness: As one would expect due to time spent in News Feed, CTRs on the News Feed are much higher than the right-hand column, and mobile ads dominate desktop ads in terms of clickthrough rate. News Feed ads are growing quarter-on-quarter, with mobile increasing it’s dominance from Q3 2013 through to Q1 2014. Below, you can see how advertisers adjusted their ad placement preferences by taking a look at the quarter-over-quarter spend. Note the decline in the “All Facebook” placement: This shift in ad placement spend shows the changing attitudes of advertisers. Interestingly, mobile News Feed lost share slightly to News Feed on desktop and mobile, although this may be due to advertisers’ increasing their post boosting efforts, with the default targeting option being to target both desktop and mobile. 2013_Q2 2013_Q3 2013_Q4 2014_Q1 0,005 % 0,01 % 0,015 % 0,02 % 0,025 % 0,03 % 0 All Facebook Desktop News Feed (Desktop and Mobile) News Feed (Desktop) News Feed (Mobile) Right-hand Column All Facebook Desktop News Feed (Desktop and Mobile) News Feed (Desktop) News Feed (Mobile) Right-hand Column 2013_Q2 2013_Q3 2013_Q4 2014_Q1 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 % 70 % 80 % 90 % 100 % 0 2.2 2.1
5. 5. 5 2013_Q2 2013_Q3 2013_Q4 2014_Q1 0,05 % 0,1 % 0,15 % 0,2 % 0,25 % 0 Next, we look at CPC and CPM of each ad placement CPC CPM All Facebook Desktop News Feed (Desktop and Mobile) News Feed (Desktop) News Feed (Mobile) Right-hand Column 2013_Q2 2013_Q3 2013_Q4 2014_Q1 0,5 % 1 % 1,5 % 2 % 2,5 % 3 % 3,5 % 0 All Facebook Desktop News Feed (Desktop and Mobile) News Feed (Desktop) News Feed (Mobile) Right-hand Column The graphs show that CPCs and CPMs are much lower on ads that are targeted to “All Facebook,” with the most expensive being News Feed placements. The reason these are often more expensive in terms of CPC and CPM is due to higher competition - more posts are promoted in fewer ad slots available compared to the right-hand column placements. News Feed mobile placements have seen an upward trend in terms of CPM since Q2 2013, however, they have declined slightly this quar- ter. The right-hand column ads have seen a marked decrease in terms of CPC over the past year as their competitiveness begins to decline. 2.3
6. 6. 6 Ad Placement Takeaway Suggestion In terms of ad placement, the key takeaway for advertisers is that News Feed Ads are starting to domi- nate in terms of ad spend and CTRs, and as a result CPCs and CPMs are higher for these prized slots. We recommend that advertisers focus their attention on News Feed. This is a more competitive environ- ment for a reason - the potential here is bigger. News Feed Ads attract higher levels of user interaction due to their prominence. We’ve also studied ad types, including App ads Event ads Mobile app install ads Sponsored Stories Page Like ads Page Like sponsored stories Page post sponsored stories 3. Advertising Type 2.4 2.5
7. 7. 7 The first data point shows the CTR of each of these ad types 2013_Q1 2013_Q2 2013_Q3 2013_Q4 2014_Q1* 0,005 % 0,01 % 0,015 % 0,02 % 0,025 % 0 App Ad Event Ad Page like Ad Page Like Sponsored Story The CTR on mobile app install ads has dropped greatly over the last year, but they are still higher than most. At present, Page post sponsored stories are seeing the highest CTRs. App and event ads have a very small CTR compared to the other formats. Mobile App Install Ad Open Graph Sponsored Story Page Post Sponsored Story Share of spend has increased on Page post sponsored stories with the increase of these types of ads as more mobile inventory has opened up over time. 2013_Q1 2013_Q2 2013_Q3 2013_Q4 2014_Q1 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 % 70 % 80 % 90 % 100 % 0 App Ad Event Ad Mobile App Install Ad Open Graph Sponsored Story Page Like Ad Page Like Sponsored Story Page Post Sponsored Story 3.1 3.2
8. 8. 8 In terms of CPC and CPM for various ad types, Page post sponsored stories (which are predomi- nantly News Feed Ads) have the lowest CPC of any of the ad types, but higher CPMs than all but the mobile app install ads. Mobile app install ads had the highest CPM and CPC across the board, although this decreased in the latest results. CPC and CPMs stayed at relatively similar levels between Q1 2013 and Q1 2014. 2013_Q1 2013_Q2 2013_Q3 2013_Q4 2014_Q1 0,05 % 0,1 % 0,15 % 0,2 % 0,25 % 0,3 % 0 CPC CPM 2013_Q1 2013_Q2 2013_Q3 2013_Q4 2014_Q1 0,5 % 1 % 1,5 % 2 % 2,5 % 3 % 3,5 % 0 3.3 App Ad Event Ad Page like Ad Page Like Sponsored Story Mobile App Install Ad Open Graph Sponsored Story Page Post Sponsored Story
9. 9. 9 Sponsored stories are being removed from the advertising system as Facebook is streamlining its advertising offerings (Page post and Page Like ads already automatically have the best social context added), and we feel this is a positive thing. Page As with the placement section, this leads to the recommendation that advertisers should focus their attentions on News Feed as these placements are more cost effective and achieve higher response rates. post sponsored stories at present have the highest CTR, the highest share of spend, and the lowest CPM and CPCs. Despite the removal of the format of sponsored stories, ads with social context will still exist across all ad variants as noted above. Takeaway Ad Types Suggestion First, we looked at CTR by region We’ve looked at the world of Facebook advertising on a regional basis, covering 5 defined regions We’ve studied the differences in CTRs, CPCs,