Monthly Paid Media Spend Snapshot – May 2022

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

NOTE: As of April 2022, we are analyzing the change in average daily spend rather than total aggregate spend, to control for longer and shorter months.

There was very little change in spending or pricing in May for the retail media and paid search channels, where average daily spending and click prices stayed within 2% of last month in one direction or the other.

For paid social advertisers, daily ad expenditures dipped 9% in May, with a month-over-month CPM decrease of 7% accounting for much of that change.

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 – May 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 April to May.

• 30% of paid search accounts spent +10% or more per day in May versus April, compared to 34% who spent -10% or less (-4% differential)
• 8% of accounts spent +50% or more per day in May versus April, compared to 4% of accounts spending -50% or less (+4% differential)

Paid Search CPCs

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

• 27% of paid search accounts paid +10% or more per click in May versus April, compared to 29% who paid -10% or less (-2% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per click in May versus April, compared to 1% of accounts paying -50% or less (+2% differential)

Social Advertising spending

Overall, average daily spending in social advertising dropped 9% from April to May.

• 34% of paid social accounts spent +10% or more per day in May versus April, compared to 38% who spent -10% or less (-4% differential)
• 15% of accounts spent +50% or more per day in May versus April, compared to 11% of accounts spending -50% or less (+4% differential)

Social Advertising CPMs

Overall, the average cost of a thousand impressions in social advertising decreased 7% from April to May.

• 30% of paid social accounts paid +10% or more per thousand impressions in May versus April, compared to 36% who paid -10% or less (-6% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per thousand impressions in May versus April, compared to 3% of accounts paying -50% or less (zero differential)

Retail Media spending

Overall, average daily spending in retail media advertising increased 2% from April to May.

• 39% of retail media advertising accounts spent +10% or more per day in May versus April, compared to 34% who spent -10% or less (+5% differential)
• 12% of accounts spent +50% or more per day in May versus April, compared to 4% of accounts spending -50% or less (+8% differential)

Retail Media CPCs

Overall, the average cost of a click in retail media advertising decreased 1% from April to May.

• 30% of retail media advertising accounts paid +10% or more per click in May versus April, compared to 24% who paid -10% or less (+6% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per click in May compared to April, 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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