Monthly Paid Media Spend Snapshot – April 2022

Spending and Pricing Trends Across Paid Search, Social Advertising, and Retail Media

Starting this month, we will look at changes in spending based on average daily spend rather than total aggregate spend, to control for longer and shorter months.

April saw modest changes in spending patterns across channels. Paid social led the way with a 6% month-over-month increase in average daily spend and just over a third of accounts seeing at least a 10% increase. Retail media average daily spend grew 3% and paid search dropped by just one percentage point, with roughly equal shares of increases and decreases by search account.

Ad prices followed a similar pattern, with paid social seeing the largest change with a 20% increase in CPM, retail media seeing a more modest 5% increase in CPC, and paid search relatively flat at 1% higher click prices than in March.

How do you measure up? Check out these benchmarks to see if your programs are on par with your industry peers or if you’re ahead or behind the curve.

This is a continuation of our monthly paid media snapshot series. As with any benchmark, your mileage may vary, but we hope this provides a bit more context for you as a marketer as you navigate the ups and downs of your program’s performance.

Monthly Paid Media Spend Snapshot – April 2022

Methodology: For these benchmarks, only Skai accounts with spend above a minimum threshold for the previous three months are included. As of April 2022, spending benchmarks use average daily spend to control for longer and shorter months. Please note that the selection criteria used here are different from the Skai Quarterly Trends Report, which can sometimes lead to different results from the two analyses.

Paid Search spending

Overall, average daily spending in paid search dropped 1% from March to April.

• 35% of paid search accounts spent +10% or more per day in April versus March, compared to 33% who spent -10% or less (+2% differential)
• 7% of accounts spent +50% or more per day in April versus March, compared to 6% of accounts spending -50% or less (+1% differential)

 Paid Search CPCs

Overall, the average cost of a click in paid search advertising rose 1% from March to April.

• 29% of paid search accounts paid +10% or more per click in April versus March, compared to 28% who paid -10% or less (+1% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per click in April versus March, compared to 1% of accounts paying -50% or less (+2% differential)

Social Advertising spending

Overall, average daily spending in social advertising increased 6% from March to April.

• 47% of paid social accounts spent +10% or more per day in April versus March, compared to 34% who spent -10% or less (+13% differential)
• 19% of accounts spent +50% or more per day in April versus March, compared to 10% of accounts spending -50% or less (+9% differential)

Social Advertising CPMs

Overall, the average cost of a thousand impressions in social advertising rose 20% from March to April.

• 36% of paid social accounts paid +10% or more per thousand impressions in April versus March, compared to 29% who paid -10% or less (+7% differential)
• 9% of accounts paid +50% or more per thousand impressions in April versus March, compared to 2% of accounts paying -50% or less (+7% differential)

Retail Media spending

Overall, average daily spending in retail media advertising increased 3% from March to April.

• 42% of retail media advertising accounts spent +10% or more per day in April versus March, compared to 35% who spent -10% or less (+7% differential)
• 11% of accounts spent +50% or more per day in April versus March, compared to 9% of accounts spending -50% or less (+2% differential)

Retail Media CPCs

Overall, the average cost of a click in retail media advertising rose 5% from March to April.

• 33% of retail media advertising accounts paid +10% or more per click in April versus March, compared to 25% who paid -10% or less (+8% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per click in April compared to March, versus 1% of accounts paying -50% or less (+2% differential)

Check out more resources from Skai

Come back next month for the most up-to-date data. Until then, you can dive into more of our research via our Quarterly Trends Reports hub.

And please visit the Skai blog and Research & Reports page for ongoing insights, analysis, and interviews on all things related to digital advertising.

Book a Meeting of Skai