Q4 Search Spend Up 8 Percent, While Social Ad Spend Rose 50 Percent [Report]

Global search ad spend rose eight percent year over year in Q4 2015, while social advertising jumped 50 percent year over year among advertisers using the Kenshoo management platform to manage search, Facebook and Instagram campaigns.

The increases in social are thanks to Facebook dynamic product ads, more available inventory on Instagram and higher CPCs driven by new objective-based bidding strategies, says Kenshoo.

Mobile accounted for nearly all of the spending growth in search and social advertising in Q4 2015.

Kenshoo says Facebook advertisers are “adapting to changes in bidding strategies that focus on smaller quantity of more targeted clicks that drive downstream actions rather than just engagement.”

Social click-through rates fell in Q4, hitting an average 1.0 percent in Q4. CPCs rose to an average $0.34 as impressions have gone down.

In search, Product Listing Ads (PLAs) accounted for 26 percent of ad impressions in the fourth quarter, up from just eight percent the previous year.

Click-through rates on mobile have been steadily rising, pushing overall CTRs higher over the past three quarters. The average CTR was 2.5 percent in Q4, while PLAs continued to drive CPCs down, reaching an average of $0.54 in the fourth quarter.

The full infographic provides metric comparisons between search and social.

About The Author

Ginny Marvin

As Third Door Media's paid media reporter, Ginny Marvin writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She provides search marketing and demand generation advice for ecommerce companies and can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.