Monthly Paid Media Spend Snapshot – July 2021

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

With Prime Day driving Retail Media spending to record highs in June, overall investment in the shopping-heavy channel dropped 25% in July. Across all Skai accounts, 59% saw their budgets drop by at least ten percent, and just over four out of ten accounts paid at least 10% less per click. For Computers & Consumer Electronics, the focus on Prime Day was perhaps the starkest, with spending down 44% from June to July.

Paid Social ad prices also declined 7% from June to July as CPM was down at least 10% for nearly half (46%) of accounts. Several categories, including Computers & Consumer Electronics, Pets & Animals and Sports & Fitness bucked that overall trend, with spending increasing for the month.

Finally, aggregate spending on Paid Search was up just slightly (+1%), even as more advertisers saw their monthly spending decrease rather than increase, which can happen based on the relative size of budgets from the individual advertisers moving up or down. The Jobs & Education segment saw the biggest month-over-month increase at +14%.

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 – July 2021

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 increased 1% from June to July.

• 28% of paid search accounts spent +10% or more in July versus June, compared to 36% who spent -10% or less (-8% differential)
• 6% of accounts spent +50% or more in July versus June, compared to 5% of accounts spending -50% or less (+1% differential)

Paid Search CPCs

Overall, the average cost of a click in paid search advertising rose 8% from June to July.

• 21% of paid search accounts paid +10% or more per click in July versus June, compared to 31% who paid -10% or less (-10% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per click in July versus June, compared to 1% of accounts paying -50% or less (+2% differential)

Social Advertising spending

Overall, spending in social advertising dropped 7% from June to July.

• 30% of paid social accounts spent +10% or more in July versus June, compared to 48% who spent -10% or less (-18% differential)
• 10% of accounts spent +50% or more in July versus June, compared to 14% of accounts spending -50% or less (-4% differential)

Social Advertising CPMs

Overall, the average cost of a thousand impressions in social advertising decreased 1% from June to July.

• 17% of paid social accounts paid +10% or more per thousand impressions in July versus June, compared to 46% who paid -10% or less (-29% differential)
• 4% of accounts paid +50% or more per thousand impressions in July versus June, compared to % of accounts paying -50% or less (+4% differential)

Retail Media spending

Overall, spending in retail media advertising dropped 25% from June to July.

• 25% of retail media advertising accounts spent +10% or more in July versus June, compared to 59% who spent -10% or less (-34% differential)
• 7% of accounts spent +50% or more in July versus June, compared to 14% of accounts spending -50% or less (-7% differential)

Retail Media CPCs

Overall, the average cost of a click in retail media advertising decreased 10% from June to July.

• 16% of retail media advertising accounts paid +10% or more per click in July versus June, compared to 41% who paid -10% or less (-25% differential)
• 2% of accounts paid +50% or more per click in July compared to June, versus 0% 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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