Adobe Systems Incorporated has released the findings of Adobe Digital Index report, focused on digital advertising industry insights for the third quarter of 2012, as well as an outlook through the first quarter of 2013.
Each year, Adobe analyses advertiser and user behavior from more than $2 billion in annualised spend under management. Based on the report, overall paid search among advertisers continues to grow across geographies, largely due to increasing mobile traffic, but cost per click (CPC), conversion rates and return on investment (ROI) varies across PCs, tablet devices and smartphones. Additionally, the report found that brand engagement on Facebook is growing rapidly, making it a valuable social advertising channel to reach consumers.
Key Report Findings for the third quarter of 2012
?Search advertising maintained steady growth in the United States, the U.K. and Germany, but increased traffic across mobile devices shifted search spend to tablets and smartphones, which altered CPCs, especially for Google. Search spends in the US grew by 11 percent year over year (YoY) while ROI improved by 26 per cent. Additionally, growth rates for search spend in the UK and Germany rose by 36 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively.
?Facebook brand engagement grew by 896 per cent YoY, resulting in continued fan growth. Mobile users account for nearly one quarter of all Facebook engagement (for example, likes, comments and shares).
?Google CPCs decreased by 10 per cent YoY, which is likely attributed to an increasing share of mobile clicks, where CPCs are less expensive.
? Conversion rates by mobile operating system are becoming more important due to continued growth in mobile search traffic. Comparison of iOS versus Android device traffic reveals nearly twice the monetisation advantage for iOS. This indicates that optimising mobile search spend by device offers marketers the opportunity to drive greater ROI.
Outlook for the fourth quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2013
Based on a client index from the past three quarters (beginning in the fourth quarter of 2011), some key trends are developing:
?Search spend in the United States and Europe is expected to continue rising, especially in the retail segment given robust channel growth, high ROI and the upcoming holiday season. Growth rates of 15 to 20 percent in both the United States and Europe are projected along with increased CPCs in the fourth quarter, due to retail seasonality and Google Shopping having transitioned to a paid model.
?Mobile traffic is anticipated to maintain steady growth with one in five paid search clicks originating from a tablet or smartphone. Marketers will presumably place increased emphasis on driving mobile traffic to their site by tailoring campaigns for specific mobile operating systems (iOS and Android).
?Engagement on Facebook is expected to surge in the fourth quarter, as brands continue to invest in social marketing and take advantage of the latest Facebook platform changes (for example, the Timeline facility) to target consumers.
