Facebook ad click-through rates grew by 10% quarter-over-quarter (Q-o-Q) in Q4, says Kenshoo Social in its latest Facebook advertising data release. Ad impressions and clicks grew by 51% and 66%, respectively, following smaller increases in Q3, while holiday season competition drove a reversal in unit cost trends from the prior quarter. After reporting a drop in costs-per-click (CPCs) during Q3, Kenshoo indicates that CPCs grew by 21% Q-o-Q in Q4.
Cost-per-thousand impressions also grew during the fourth quarter, up 33%, as spending on Facebook ads doubled.
The results show that direct response advertisers continue to see growing revenues from their Facebook campaigns. During Q4, these advertisers – those tracking social media revenue directly – enjoyed a seasonal gain of 60% over Q3. Earlier this year, Kenshoo touted Facebook’s capabilities as a direct response platform on the basis of direct response advertisers’ Q2 revenue uptick of 28.3%.
Separately, Kenshoo recently indicated that paid search had a strong quarter in Q4, with advertisers spending more than in any other quarter it has tracked. Some highlights from that report include:
- Marketers increasing Q4 paid search ad spend globally by 29% quarter-over-quarter and 19% year-over-year;
- CPCs (+6%) and clicks (+12%) both growing on a year-over-year basis, although impressions were down 10%;
- Retailers earning a 6:1 return on ad spend for the holiday season (November-December) on the back of an average global CTR of 2.33% and an average conversion rate of 4.07%;
- Mobiles comprising 1 in 3 paid search clicks, up 28% year-over-year and consistent with other reports; and
- Retailers upping their spending on product listing ads by 138% year-over-year, achieving a return of $8.84 for every dollar spent.
About the Data: The Kenshoo Social data reflects more than 115 billion Facebook ads across a representative sample of advertisers and agencies using Kenshoo Social in Q3 and Q4 2013. Kenshoo notes that there may be variations in the numbers for past or future research as the rolling data set is dynamic each new quarter.
Data studied for the holiday paid search report span more than 20 billion paid search impressions and clicks during November and December.
