Monthly Paid Media Spend Snapshot – February 2022

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

In a month with 10% fewer days than the one before, total spending for retail media and paid search in February declined 9% and 10%, respectively, compared to January. Ad pricing did not change appreciably from month to month, meaning that these channels did not see much variation when the calendar is taken into account. More advertisers reduced their investment than increased it.

In social advertising, overall expenditures dropped 19%, but the share of advertisers increasing vs. decreasing spending was closer, with 1 in 5 bumping social budgets up by at least 50%. With CPMs rising for more than half of social advertisers, this points to a few “big fish” decreasing their spend and a continued decrease in total impressions.

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 – February 2022

Methodology note. For the purpose of these monthly benchmarks, only Skai accounts with spend above a minimum threshold for the previous three months are included in this analysis.

Paid search spending

Overall, spending in paid search dropped 10% from January to February.

• 27% of paid search accounts spent +10% or more in February versus January, compared to 44% who spent -10% or less (-17% differential)
• 7% of accounts spent +50% or more in February versus January, compared to 7% of accounts spending -50% or less (zero differential)

 Paid search CPCs

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

• 37% of paid search accounts paid +10% or more per click in February versus January, compared to 23% who paid -10% or less (+14% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per click in February versus January, compared to 1% of accounts paying -50% or less (+2% differential)

Social advertising spending

Overall, spending in social advertising dropped 19% from January to February.

• 38% of paid social accounts spent +10% or more in February versus January, compared to 44% who spent -10% or less (-6% differential)
• 21% of accounts spent +50% or more in February versus January, compared to 12% of accounts spending -50% or less (+9% differential)

Social advertising CPMs

Overall, the average cost of a thousand impressions in social advertising rose 1% from January to February.

• 54% of paid social accounts paid +10% or more per thousand impressions in February versus January, compared to 20% who paid -10% or less (+34% differential)
• 8% of accounts paid +50% or more per thousand impressions in February versus January, compared to 2% of accounts paying -50% or less (+6% differential)

Retail media spending

Overall, spending in retail media advertising dropped 9% from January to February.

• 25% of retail media advertising accounts spent +10% or more in February versus January, compared to 53% who spent -10% or less (-28% differential)
• 7% of accounts spent +50% or more in February versus January, compared to 7% of accounts spending -50% or less (zero differential)

Retail media CPCs

Overall, the average cost of a click in retail media advertising did not change from January to February.

• 26% of retail media advertising accounts paid +10% or more per click in February versus January, compared to 28% who paid -10% or less (-2% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per click in February compared to January, 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.

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