Facebook is scheduled to release its next earnings report on Nov. 4, which is two weeks from today, and analysts are expecting earnings of 52 cents per share and revenue of $4.36 billion for the third quarter. Analysts from most firms have been happy with the social network’s progress in mobile advertising, and the trends continue to be positive.
Facebook’s click-through rates rise
The folks at advertising automation software developer Nanigans have just released their third quarter Global Facebook Advertising Benchmark Report. They report that click-through rates on Facebook climbed, and as a result, advertisers are spending more and more on the social network’s ad platform. Nanigans reports that most of its clients that have used its software for at least the last two quarters upped their ad budgets in the third quarter.
Facebook advertisers seeing ROIs rise
Advertisers are seeing better and better returns on their ad spend on Facebook even though the social network has increased its prices this year. According to Nanigans, marketers are seeing significant “sustained positive return on ad spend.” One retailer that started to use the firm’s software early in the second quarter has found a 502% increase in return on ad spend and has increased its purchase rates 271%. Also the retailer has upped its average daily spend 21%.
A second retailer that started using Nanigans’ software early in the third quarter found a 333% increase in return on ad spend and a 22% increase in purchase rates. The retailer upped its average daily spend by 174%.
Facebook continues growing
Facebook has been expanding into international markets and now is starting to pick up share of ad spend. In markets outside North America, the social network’s share of ad spend increased 5% quarter over quarter. The biggest gains came in the Asia Pacific region as cost per impression increased slightly and click-through rates grew faster than they did in North America.
Mobile continues to be more and more important at Facebook as well, as Nanigans reported that the share of mobile ad spend versus desktop on Facebook rose 10% quarter over quarter. The firm noted that mobile ads typically cost more to target, but mobile adds have a much higher click-through rate and tend to come in “attention-grabbing full-screen ad units,” it reported.
E-commerce advertisers are especially benefiting from the shift to mobile, as 60% of e-commerce advertiser spend during the third quarter was mobile. That’s a 14% quarter over quarter increase for the vertical.
Facebook’s Carousel ads becoming popular
Facebook’s newer Carousel ad product has become very popular among advertisers, according to Nanigans. The ad format includes up to five images or products that can be scrolled through, all in the same ad. The firm reports that spend on Carousel Unpublished Page Post increased the most of any ad product offered by Facebook
Despite the Carousel product’s increasing popularity, direct response ads remain the most popular. Advertisers using Nanigans’ software spent most of their budgets on Unpublished Page Post ads, Mobile App Install ads and Domain Ads. Together, the three made up 96% of ad spend on Facebook through Nanigans during the third quarter.
Facebook click-through rates on the rise
Nanigans reports a 9% quarter over quarter increase in click-through rates for Facebook during the third quarter, which brought the percentage to 0.96%. That increase is a bit more than the 8% sequential increase recorded in the second quarter and is the highest Nanigans has seen since it started publishing comparative data two years ago.
In this year’s third quarter, the firm found that click-through rates rose 69% year over year.
Facebook’s cost per click remains stable
Nanigans also found that Facebook’s cost per click rose 18% sequentially to 54 cents during the third quarter. The firm noted that typically, the social network’s global cost per click hovers in the 50 cent to 54 cent range.
Cost per impression starts rising again
Facebook’s cost per impression also clocked a sequential increase, marking the first increase since last year’s fourth quarter and hitting the highest level in two years. This metric climbed 28% sequentially, and Nanigans cited several drivers.
One was an increase in mobile ad spend, which tends to be more expensive than desktop advertising. Also cost per impression climbed in a lot of international markets. The quarter’s increase in cost per impression runs parallel to the change recorded between last year’s second and quarters when it increased 86%.
All graphs in this article are courtesy Nanigans.
