New research conducted by IgnitionOne, a digital marketing company, suggests that while advertising on Facebook has the potential to be an 800-pound gorilla, in its current state, it’s more like an overgrown chimpanzee.
According the report, which examined second-quarter online advertising, marketers are wading into Facebook’s ad waters cautiously. Spending among existing Facebook advertisers is up 22 percent, year-over-year, suggesting that many first-time campaigns don’t yield hoped-for results. But the lure of an enormous audience is great; across all advertisers, year-over-year spending increased 281 percent.
Volatility in ad spending is an indication that despite its enormous subscriber base, advertisers still regard Facebook as an immature platform for advertising and they are still trying to understand how best to leverage it. According to the research, over the life of a campaign on Facebook, advertisers jump in feet first with significant spending, peaking at the five-month mark, then throttle spending back. This is a sign, according to IgnitionOne’s president, Roger Barnette, that marketers are struggling to understand the medium and to adapt to its idiosyncrasies.
“I compare it to early pay per click 10 or 12 years ago,” said Barnette. “Advertisers are in the testing phase.”
Barnette says that advertisers are trying to strike a balance between the enormous inventory of advertising needed to take advantage of Facebook’s inherent targeting opportunities and ads that have compelling content.
“Part of the problem is that ads are boring, which is not necessarily Facebook’s problem,” said Barnette. “To be successful in the space is to have to hyper-targeted ads to a specific audience. Users are used to seeing ads micro-targeted. Everything they read is targeted to them. They are not looking for the same kind of ads they see on TV. There are hundreds of ad variations, geo-targeted and demo-targeted. It’s all part of the learning curve. Throwing an ad up is not a recipe for success. It takes some work.”
-
Dentsu’s new Web3 readiness tool shines light on the tech’s potential to complement AI
Dentsu's Innovation Initiative is launching a web3 readiness index next month — at a time when the industry is obsessed with AI. Could the two technologies actually make a good pair?
-
Digiday+ Research deep dive: Publishers large and small put their resources into first-party data
Eighty-two percent of publishers overall say they're already using first-party data to prepare for the end of the third-party cookie, and nearly half are requiring users to register and integrating first-party data segments into DSPs – indicating that first-party data is the clear path forward for publishers heading into the post-cookie world.
-
Media Briefing: Why publishers hope chatbots will be the latest retention tool
Publishers hope the chatbots they are developing will be the latest retention tool to keep readers onsite and to get them to consume more content.
-
SponsoredHow enterprise-grade CDPs are enhancing data processes and improving customer experiences
Produced in partnership with Marketecture The following article highlights an interview between Martin Kihn, Salesforce’s senior vice president of Marketing Cloud, and Ari Paparo, founder and CEO of Marketecture Media. Register to watch more of the discussion and learn how brands are making the most of enterprise-grade CDP technologies. As brands expand across channels and […]
-
How programmatic advertising will evolve this year on the heels of audio growth and privacy changes
Comscore’s programmatic division Proximic released a State of Programmatic study highlighting the growth of audio and podcasting, other digital advertising channels and challenges around third-party data.
-
Why podcasters are selling subscriptions through third-party vendors
Many podcasters are turning to third party platforms like Supporting Cast and Supercast to launch or grow their subscription businesses beyond Spotify or Apple.
