Facebook advertising budgets ‘growing faster than paid search’

Marketers are increasing advertising spend with Facebook at a much faster pace than paid search advertising, according to new research.


The findings, from digital marketing software provider Kenshoo, a are based on analysis of more than 100 billion ads delivered on Facebook worldwide through its Kenshoo Social ad platform.
Kenshoo Social customers spent 109 percent more on Facebook in Q4 of 2011 than they did in Q3.
While some of this growth can be attributed to seasonality, the increase in global Facebook ad budgets compares favourably to search channels like Google, Bing, and Yahoo which, in aggregate, saw paid search ad budget growth of 27 percent globally on a quarter-over-quarter basis.
“Brands using Kenshoo Social to manage Facebook ads saw impressive response rates leading to large increases in advertising spend that dwarfed paid search budget growth in the 4th quarter,” said Aaron Goldman, chief marketing officer of Kenshoo. “We see these trends continuing in 2012 and beyond as the Facebook ad ecosystem expands and marketers get savvier using tools like Kenshoo Social to drive tangible results.”
Other key findings of Kenshoo’s analysis, adjusted for seasonality, include:
• Facebook advertising is gaining popularity: ad impressions grew by 47 percent in Q4 vs. Q3 2011
• Consumers are clicking more as Facebook ads are gaining acceptance: clicks grew by 105 percent in Q4 vs. Q3 2011, a growth rate more than double that of impressions
• Facebook ad quality improved: consumers clicked on ads in Q4 at a rate 27 percent higher than in Q3
Methodology:
To determine growth in advertiser spend on Facebook, Kenshoo examined aggregate data from a collection of Kenshoo Social customers, including more than 100 billion global Facebook Marketplace ad impressions. The Kenshoo Social customers included in this collection are global advertisers covering a wide range of industries, including retail, automotive, telecommunications, entertainment and finance. In contrast, growth in paid search advertising was culled from a collection of Kenshoo Enterprise and Kenshoo Local customers across verticals, covering more than 400 billion global paid search ad impressions on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, AOL, Baidu, and Yandex.
Source: www.Kenshoo.com