Global Digital Advertising Report
Adobe Digital Index Q4 2014
Table of contents
Social
3 Key insights
4 Facebook post impressions
5 Black Friday Foursquare check-ins
6 Facebook post organic impressions
7 Facebook post share by post type
8 Facebook post interaction rate
9 Facebook post interaction rate by day
Search
10 Search engine marketing (SEM) spend growth
11 SEM spend growth by search engine
12 Share of spend by search engine
13 Google shopping ad spend growth
14 Share of retail clicks by ad type
15 Holiday season spend and click growth
16 Global SEM spend growth by industry
17 Daily share of SEM clicks
18 CTR growth by country and search engine
19 CTR growth by industry
20 Google U.S. CTR and CPC growth by device type
21 CPC growth by country and search engine
22 CPC growth by industry
Appendix
23 Recommendations
24 Predictions
25 Methodology
26 Tables
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Key insights
1. Google Retail “Shopping Ad” spend grew dramatically during the holiday season –
outperforming “Text Ad” spend by almost 8x
2. Google ads continue to be more efficiently optimized with Click-Through-Rate (CTR) growth
outpacing Cost-Per-Click (CPC) growth by more than 2x
3. Advertisers should remember “Mobile Search Sundays,” “Desktop Search Mondays,” and
Facebook Fridays”
4. Retailers turned to Facebook during holiday season to drive sales while marketers are
quickly adjusting to Facebook algorithm changes
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SOCIAL
Facebook post impressions
Retailers increased marketing efforts on Facebook
during the holiday season.
The findings:
• Posts: In retail, up 64% YOY; up 31% QOQ.
• Paid impressions: In retail, up 13% YOY; up 53%
QOQ.
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SOCIAL
Black Friday Foursquare check-ins
Consumers flocked to mass merchants and to malls this
holiday season to do their shopping.
The findings:
• Mass merchants led with 24% of all Black Friday retail check-ins.
• Malls were second with 21%.
• Specialty stores were third with 16%.
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SOCIAL
Facebook post organic impressions
Organic impressions from Facebook posts continued to drop.
However, some post types did better than others.
The findings:
• Organic impressions from Facebook posts were down 32% YOY.
• Video posts performed the best for organic impressions, flat YOY.
• Text posts were affected most by algorithm changes, down 60% YOY.
100%
32%
YOY
DEC
2013
MAR
2014
JUN
2014
SEPT
2014
FACEBOOK AVERAGE ORGANIC POST IMPRESSION GROWTH
DEC
2014
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SOCIAL
Facebook post share by post type
Links were on the move after updates from Facebook.
The findings:
• Link share of posts was up 68% YOY.
• Images share of posts was down 15% YOY.
• Videos share of posts was up 52% YOY.
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SOCIAL
Facebook post interaction rate
Post interaction rates increased in retail and for video
and link-based posts.
The findings:
• Interaction rates for Facebook posts from retail brands were
up 14% YOY.
• Interaction rates for links were up 36% YOY.
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SOCIAL
Facebook post interaction rate by day
Facebook Friday—Highest percent of interaction rates, post
impressions, and posts occurred on Friday.
The findings:
• Interaction rates were 15% higher on Friday than any other day of the week.
• Brand post impressions were 18% higher on Friday than any other day of the week.
• Brand posts were 28% higher on Friday than any other day of the week.
• Shares and likes happened on Friday more often than any other day of the week.
4%
2%
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SEARCH
Search engine marketing (SEM) spend growth
The amount of money being allocated to search
advertisement campaigns is steadily increased,
up 12% globally YOY.
The findings:
• Overall search advertisement spend in U.S. dollars grew 5% YOY.
• Europe SEM spend growth slowed in the most recent quarter,
up 17% YOY; Great Britain spend was down 3% over the same
time period.
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SEARCH
SEM spend growth by search engine
Overall worldwide SEM ad spend on Google rose 8% YOY, while overall
spend on Yahoo! Bing grew 36% during the same time period.
The findings:
• Yahoo! Bing realized a strong YOY uptick in SEM spend, up 36% globally,
outpacing Google by 3.5x.
• Global SEM ad spend on Google was up 8% YOY.
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SEARCH
Share of spend by search engine
Although Google was still the dominant SEM player in
the United States, share of SEM spend has trended
towards Yahoo! Bing over the last five quarters.
The findings:
• Google remained dominant in Europe and Great Britain,
controlling 90% and 91% of market share respectively in the most
recent quarter.
• Yahoo! Bing increased their share of SEM ad spend in the
United States to 32% in the most recent quarter.
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SEARCH
Google shopping ad spend growth
Shopping Ads are major revenue growth drivers for
Google, via USD retail ad send.
The findings:
• Google Shopping Ad spend growth up 47% YOY.
• The holiday season drove Google Shopping Ad spend growth up
53% QOQ.
• Google Text Ad spend in retail sector down 6% YOY.
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SEARCH
Share of retail clicks by ad type
Google shopping ads accounted for 20% of all retail
SEM clicks in the United States.
The findings:
• Google text ad clicks lead the U.S. retail sector with
66% share.
• Yahoo! Bing released Product Ads in March 2014 to all US
advertisers, which in Q4 2014 represented less than 1% of U.S.
retail clicks.
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SEARCH
Holiday season spend and click growth
Key days throughout the holiday season contributed heavily to
click growth as well as spend growth.
The findings:
• Global shopping ad clicks were up 53% on Cyber Monday
over November 1, 2014; ad spend was up 53% on Singles Day.
• Text ad clicks were up 59% on Cyber Monday over
November 1, 2014; spend was up 87%.
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SEARCH
Global SEM spend growth by industry
Industries were affected by seasonality, with SEM spend
in travel increasing in the spring and retail SEM spend
growing in the holiday season.
The findings:
• SEM ad spend in the retail industry grew 7% YOY.
• During that same period, search ad spend in the travel industry
declined by 4%.
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SEARCH
Daily share of SEM clicks
Mobile ad clicks were more frequent during the
weekend, whereas Mondays saw the highest desktop
search traffic compared to all other days of the week.
The findings:
• The share of mobile ad clicks on Sunday was 17% higher than the
average day.
• On Mondays, text ad clicks are 9% higher than on the average day;
Saturdays were 11% lower.
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SEARCH
CTR growth by country and search engine
SEM marketing becomes more optimized as overall CTRs
increased in the United States, up 22% YOY.
The findings:
• Japan saw the highest increase in CTR up 24% YOY.
• Global Google CTR was up 19% YOY, while Yahoo! Bing CTRs
were relatively flat over the year.
GLOBAL SEM CTR GROWTH BY SEARCH ENGINE
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SEARCH
CTR growth by industry
CTRs were up across several industries YOY,
increasing as much as 36% in the financial industry.
The findings:
• The finance and travel industries saw the highest increase
in CTR YOY, up 36% and 33% respectively.
• The heavily competitive retail industry saw a 9% increase
in CTR YOY.
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SEARCH
Google U.S. CTR and CPC growth by device type
With programmatic buying tools across multiple
platforms becoming available, mobile is the new frontier
for marketers and advertisers to fully optimize.
The findings:
• For U.S., mobile devices drove higher CTR growth; up 27% YOY for
tablets and 26% for smart phones.
GOOGLE U.S. CPC GROWTH BY DEVICE TYPE
GOOGLE U.S. CTR GROWTH BY DEVICE TYPE
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SEARCH
CPC growth by country and search engine
CPC rates slowly increased and did not keep pace with CTRs.
The findings:
• CPC was up 12% YOY in Great Britain.
• Google CPC was up 8% YOY, while CPC on Yahoo! Bing was
up 7% during that same time period.
GLOBAL SEM CPC GROWTH BY SEARCH ENGINE
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SEARCH
CPC growth by industry
The holiday season saw CPC ramping up in all industries.
The findings:
• CPC in the travel industry was up 13% YOY.
• CPC was down 10% YOY in the finance industry.
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Recommendations
1. Look to add links to content into brand posts in 2015 to take advantage of the growth due to
Facebook algorithm changes. Also, when looking for organic impressions, try out a video post.
It is the type that has been least effected by the decrease in organic impressions.
2. Fridays are a good day for interaction rates including likes and shares from brand Facebook
followers.
3. Monday is seeing a rise in SEM clicks, advertisers need to focus more spend on this day to
drive more engagement.
4. To remain competitive, retail advertisers need to incorporate shopping ads into their SEM
strategy.
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Predictions
1. Shopping ad share will decline slightly in Q1 ‘15, but will see strong growth in second half of ‘15
and comprise 30% of all SEM clicks in Q4 ‘15
2. Non-retail advertisers will begin adopting shopping ads and see increase in visual ads
3. SEM CTR growth will continue to outpace CPC growth due to programmatic solutions and
more advanced modeling to incorporate altering bids based on dimensions (i.e. device type,
consumer demographics)
4. Negative spread between CTR and CPC YoY growth within Yahoo!/Bing will start to narrow as
advertisers take lessons learned from Google marketing
5. Facebook organic impressions will drop nearly another 40% by ‘16. Facebook brand link and
video posts will grow faster in ‘15 than image-based posts
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Methodology
Based on consumer data to brand sites during 2013 and 2014.
• +400 billion Facebook post impressions
• +500 billion Google and Yahoo! Bing ad impressions
Composed of aggregated and anonymous data from visits to websites in multiple
industries and segments.
Data captured via Adobe Marketing Cloud—Adobe Media Optimizer, and Adobe Social.
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Tables
Black Friday Foursquare check ins
Mass Merchants 24%
Malls 21%
Specialty and Misc. 16%
Apparel 10%
Hardware and Home Stores 7%
Toy / Game Stores 6%
Electronics 3%
Sporting Goods 3%
Drugstores / Pharmacies 3%
Banks 3%
Automotive Shops 3%
Coffee Shops 2%
Cosmetics Shops 2%
Average Share of Facebook Posts by Post Type
Q4 2012 Q4 2013 Q4 2014
Image 60% 65% 55%
Link 13% 16% 27%
Video 7% 6% 8%
Text 20% 13% 10%
Facebook average organic post impression growth
12/1/14 1/1/15 2/1/15 3/1/15 4/1/15 5/1/15 6/1/15 7/1/15 8/1/15 9/1/15 10/1/15 11/1/15 12/1/15
100% 103% 99% 97% 91% 86% 71% 77% 79% 72% 71% 72% 68%
Facebook post share and interaction rate by day
Share of post impressions Share of posts Interaction Rate
Sunday 8.6% 10.3% 3.3%
Monday 15.9% 14.6% 3.2%
Tuesday 16.7% 15.3% 3.3%
Wednesday 15.3% 15.7% 3.3%
Thursday 15.1% 15.7% 3.4%
Friday 17.6% 16.4% 3.8%
Saturday 10.8% 12.0% 3.3%
Facebook share of engagement type by day
Comments Likes Shares
Sunday 11.6% 12.2% 12.0%
Monday 14.9% 14.6% 14.1%
Tuesday 16.1% 15.0% 15.0%
Wednesday 16.6% 14.2% 15.0%
Thursday 14.3% 14.5% 15.1%
Friday 14.1% 15.4% 15.2%
Saturday 12.3% 14.1% 13.6%
Global retail shopping ad spend growth
Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14 Aug-14 Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14
100% 76% 62% 70% 73% 74% 65% 67% 86% 88% 100% 123% 144%
Global SEM spend growth by industry
Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14 Aug-14 Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14
Automotive 100% 103% 101% 101% 118% 109% 105% 109% 113% 119% 103% 108% 116%
Finance 100% 108% 112% 108% 107% 108% 92% 92% 101% 105% 89% 99% 100%
Retail 100% 84% 81% 70% 80% 80% 81% 76% 80% 85% 85% 94% 107%
Travel 100% 112% 133% 115% 119% 118% 122% 122% 127% 123% 107% 99% 96%
Global retail shopping ad spend growth
11/1/14 11/2/14 11/3/14 11/4/14 11/5/14 11/6/14 11/7/14 11/8/14 11/9/14 11/10/14 11/11/14 11/12/14 11/13/14 11/14/14 11/15/14 11/16/14 11/17/14 11/18/14
Global Shopping Ad Click Growth 100% 115% 118% 111% 116% 116% 108% 108% 127% 126% 128% 122% 118% 111% 113% 134% 132% 126%
US Shopping Ad Click Growth 100% 109% 121% 112% 113% 112% 105% 99% 112% 123% 132% 118% 118% 106% 109% 124% 135% 127%
11/19/14 11/20/14 11/21/14 11/22/14 11/23/14 11/24/14 11/25/14 11/26/14 11/27/14 11/28/14 11/29/14 11/30/14 12/1/14 12/2/14 12/3/14 12/4/14 12/5/14
123% 118% 113% 114% 135% 131% 124% 124% 119% 129% 126% 144% 153% 140% 139% 134% 128%
117% 109% 102% 103% 113% 110% 103% 99% 89% 110% 112% 123% 136% 123% 118% 120% 117%
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Tables
2014 Holiday Season daily retail click growth
11/1/14 11/2/14 11/3/14 11/4/14 11/5/14 11/6/14 11/7/14 11/8/14 11/9/14 11/10/14 11/11/14 11/12/14 11/13/14 11/14/14 11/15/14 11/16/14 11/17/14 11/18/14
US Text Ad Click Growth 100% 113% 116% 110% 112% 112% 104% 104% 115% 119% 119% 111% 107% 103% 107% 119% 124% 116%
US Shopping Ad Click Growth 100% 109% 121% 112% 113% 112% 105% 99% 112% 123% 132% 118% 118% 106% 109% 124% 135% 127%
11/19/14 11/20/14 11/21/14 11/22/14 11/23/14 11/24/14 11/25/14 11/26/14 11/27/14 11/28/14 11/29/14 11/30/14 12/1/14 12/2/14 12/3/14 12/4/14 12/5/14
115% 110% 103% 108% 118% 118% 112% 107% 98% 135% 123% 130% 160% 128% 119% 114% 107%
117% 109% 102% 103% 113% 110% 103% 99% 89% 110% 112% 123% 136% 123% 118% 120% 117%
Daily share of SEM clicks
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Desktop Text Ad Clicks 14% 16% 15% 15% 14% 14% 13%
Desktop Shopping Ad Clicks 15% 15% 15% 14% 14% 14% 13%
Mobile Ad Clicks 17% 15% 14% 14% 13% 13% 15%
SEM CTR growth by country
Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14 Aug-14 Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14
United States 100% 100% 101% 107% 111% 113% 114% 108% 112% 116% 117% 118% 122%
Great Britain 100% 104% 105% 108% 115% 119% 114% 113% 113% 117% 116% 116% 119%
Japan 100% 92% 98% 102% 99% 101% 106% 99% 98% 101% 105% 114% 124%
SEM CTR growth by search engine
Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14 Aug-14 Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14
Google 100% 96% 96% 100% 103% 105% 106% 104% 106% 109% 110% 115% 119%
Yahoo! Bing 100% 102% 101% 97% 96% 97% 97% 94% 97% 102% 106% 101% 100%
SEM CTR growth by industry
Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14 Aug-14 Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14
Automotive 100% 94% 95% 107% 121% 131% 123% 110% 112% 112% 117% 122% 129%
Finance 100% 114% 121% 122% 123% 130% 128% 132% 137% 139% 143% 130% 136%
Retail 100% 97% 94% 95% 95% 97% 100% 96% 96% 100% 101% 106% 109%
Travel 100% 100% 101% 106% 113% 114% 118% 119% 122% 128% 128% 133% 133%
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Tables
SEM CPC growth by country
Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14 Aug-14 Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14
United States 100% 92% 92% 93% 95% 93% 94% 93% 93% 94% 95% 100% 103%
Great Britain 100% 101% 102% 102% 102% 101% 104% 103% 97% 100% 99% 106% 112%
Japan 100% 103% 111% 110% 107% 102% 101% 103% 100% 107% 102% 109% 109%
SEM CPC growth by search engine
Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14 Aug-14 Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14
Google 100% 93% 94% 96% 98% 97% 99% 98% 97% 100% 101% 105% 108%
Yahoo! Bing 100% 98% 97% 97% 100% 101% 101% 100% 96% 99% 102% 104% 107%
SEM CTR growth by industry
Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14 Aug-14 Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14
Automotive 100% 94% 97% 96% 94% 93% 91% 88% 90% 86% 90% 97% 103%
Finance 100% 94% 86% 86% 88% 86% 90% 88% 86% 86% 87% 88% 90%
Retail 100% 89% 91% 93% 97% 98% 100% 99% 99% 103% 105% 110% 113%
Travel 100% 98% 100% 101% 101% 100% 101% 99% 96% 99% 104% 106% 113%
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