Monthly Paid Media Spend Snapshot – December 2022

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

December marked a decrease in ad spending and pricing as the premiums of the Thanksgiving weekend in the previous month began to recede.

A majority of accounts in paid search, paid social, and retail media all saw average daily spending decline by at least 10% in December compared to November. About a third of accounts saw CPC drop at least 10% in paid search and retail media, while more than half of paid social media accounts paid at least 10% less CPM.

How do you measure up? Check out these benchmarks to see if your programs are on par with your industry peers, 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 – December 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 18% from November to December.

• 20% of paid search accounts spent +10% or more per day in December versus November, compared to 53% who spent -10% or less (-33% differential)
• 5% of accounts spent +50% or more per day in December versus November, compared to 11% of accounts spending -50% or less (-6% differential)

Paid Search CPCs

Overall, the average cost of a click in paid search advertising decreased 9% from November to December.

• 30% of paid search accounts paid +10% or more per click in December versus November, compared to 35% who paid -10% or less (-5% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per click in December versus November, compared to 4% of accounts paying -50% or less (-1% differential)

Social Advertising spending

Overall, average daily spending in social advertising dropped 35% from November to December.

• 24% of paid social accounts spent +10% or more per day in December versus November, compared to 58% who spent -10% or less (-34% differential)
• 9% of accounts spent +50% or more per day in December versus November, compared to 23% of accounts spending -50% or less (-14% differential)

Social Advertising CPMs

Overall, the average cost of a thousand impressions in social advertising decreased 13% from November to December.

• 19% of paid social accounts paid +10% or more per thousand impressions in December versus November, compared to 58% who paid -10% or less (-39% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per thousand impressions in December versus November, compared to 2% of accounts paying -50% or less (+1% differential)
  

Retail Media spending

Overall, average daily spending in retail media advertising dropped 22% from November to December.

• 26% of retail media advertising accounts spent +10% or more per day in December versus November, compared to 52% who spent -10% or less (-26% differential)
• 5% of accounts spent +50% or more per day in December versus November, compared to 14% of accounts spending -50% or less (-9% differential)

Retail Media CPCs

Overall, the average cost of a click in retail media advertising decreased 8% from November to December.

• 24% of retail media advertising accounts paid +10% or more per click in December versus November, compared to 31% who paid -10% or less (-7% differential)
• 1% of accounts paid +50% or more per click in December compared to November, versus 1% of accounts paying -50% or less (zero 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.

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