Ad Costs and Spending are Both on the Rise, According to Skai Study

Omnichannel advertising platform Skai recently published its Q2 2024 Digital Marketing Quarterly Trends Report.  It reveals topline growth numbers in retail media, paid search, and paid social were all positive, maintaining similar levels to those reported by Skai last quarter.

The analysis found that advertisers paid more for clicks and impressions in Q2 2024, but based on the data, Skai predicts we will see price moderation in the latter half of the year.

The study also revealed:

• Spending increased year-over-year (YoY) in all channels and quarter-over-quarter (QoQ). 

• Overall investment levels continued to grow in the primary walled garden ecosystems of retail media, paid search, and paid social, underscoring their value to marketers. 

• Retail media and paid search CPC have increased year over year for four consecutive quarters, and paid social CPM has increased year over year for the last two. 

• Despite rising prices and spending in retail media, performance metrics have kept pace. 

• The conversion rate grew 12% YoY, matching the CPC increase, and the total conversion volume grew 18%, just one point shy of the spending increase. 

• Commerce media drives quarterly growth in search and social. 

• Sequential growth for product ad and campaign types in paid search and paid social channels outpaced overall channel growth. 

Source: Skai’s PR agency, 5WPR.com

So, how do advertisers rationalize this media spend?

Savvy MULO (multi-location) brands are engaging the right agencies and internal talent to study and implement analytics that enable ongoing attribution modeling and targeting.

AI is playing a more significant role in this process, allowing advertisers to make real-time decisions. Automation can often remove the human analytics process, saving companies significant time and effort.

As digital media matures and evolves, brands and other advertisers are becoming more aware of “shiny object syndrome” and focusing their spending on media that is working to drive awareness and sales results rather than simply spending on media because it’s perceived as new and cool.

That said, MULO brands should always look to the future, experimenting with new ways to reach prospects and customers with relevant, targeted offers.

Learn more here from Skai about picking the “right” retail media.

Join us at Street Fight LIVE 2024, where you’ll hear from 5WPR about what PR will look like in the future, and how it can help MULO brands and the technologies that support them scale.