Advertisers paid more for clicks and impressions in Q2 2024, but Skai’s Quarterly Trends Report predicts price moderation in the latter half of the year
July 31, 2024 – San Francisco, CA – Today, Skai, the leading omnichannel advertising platform specializing in walled garden media, published its Q2 2024 Digital Marketing Quarterly Trends Report. This in-depth analysis highlights the digital marketing trends that defined the second quarter of 2024, along with an interactive infographic detailing key analysis. Topline growth numbers in retail media, paid search, and paid social were all positive, maintaining similar levels to those reported by Skai last quarter.
Spending up over last year and last quarter
Overall investment levels continued to grow in the primary walled garden ecosystems of retail media, paid search, and paid social, underscoring their value to marketers. On a same-account basis, spending increased year-over-year (YoY) in all channels, as well as quarter-over-quarter (QoQ). A majority of Skai accounts in each channel increased spending by at least 5% over Q2 of last year.
Prices grow as volumes slow
Retail media and paid search CPC have increased YoY for four consecutive quarters, and paid social CPM has increased YoY for the last two. Conversely, click and impression growth has slowed as prices have risen. This trend could be due to either advertisers buying fewer impressions and clicks because of higher prices, or structural changes in ad load shrinking ad inventory. In either case, history suggests that YoY increases may be slowing and could eventually lead to a period of higher volumes and lower prices.
Retail media performance maintains strength amidst price and spending increases
Despite rising prices and spending in retail media, performance metrics have kept pace. Conversion rate grew 12% YoY, matching the CPC increase, and total conversion volume grew 18%, just one point shy of the spending increase. This suggests that greater purchase intent, which requires fewer clicks to convert, could be a factor driving the price inflation without sacrificing Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
Commerce media drives quarterly growth in search and social
Sequential growth for product ad and campaign types in both the paid search and paid social channels outpaced overall channel growth. New and engaging formats like Performance Max (search) and Advantage Shopping Campaigns+ (social) continue to gain traction. As of Q2, Performance Max has been adopted by half of Skai search accounts, while ASC+ was used by one-third.
Other quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) and YoY findings include:
| Channel | Metric | QoQ Change | YoY Change |
| Retail Media | Impressions | +7% | +17% |
| Clicks | +2% | +9% | |
| Spending | +9% | +21% | |
| Cost-per-click (CPC) | +7% | +11% | |
| Paid Search | Impressions | -2% | -2% |
| Clicks | 0% | -2% | |
| Spending | +5% | +6% | |
| CPC | +5% | +9% | |
| Paid Social | Impressions | -5% | +4% |
| Clicks | +1% | +9% | |
| Spending | +1% | +13% | |
| Cost per thousand impressions (CPM) | +6% | +8% |
“We’ve heard reports of advertisers concerned about higher prices, and they’re clearly experiencing some pain as CPC and CPM are up across the board,” said Chris Costello, Senior Director of Marketing Research at Skai. “Our long-term data analysis suggests these price increases are cyclical. With year-over-year increases slowing from Q1 to Q2, we may be nearing the end of this cycle. Marketers adapt their strategy in times of high prices with tools like dayparting, audience targeting, and budget caps until the trend reverses. Other factors,such as changes in ad load that artificially moves inventory, or macroeconomic conditions, may also influence these cycles.”
For more information and to view the infographic, visit skai.io/quarterly-trends-hub/
Methodology
Analysis is drawn from a population of approximately $8.6 billion in advertising spend over five quarters, comprising more than 3,000 advertiser and agency accounts across 40 vertical industries and more than 150 countries running on the Skai platform on Google, Microsoft, Baidu, Yahoo! Japan, Verizon Media, Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect, Instacart, Criteo, Kroger, Apple Search Ads, Pinterest, Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram. Except where noted, only advertisers with 15 consecutive months of performance data are included. Some additional outliers have been excluded. Ad spending and pricing have been translated to USD at the time the spending was incurred, where applicable. Skai makes no claim that these numbers are fully representative of the larger market.
About Skai
Skai is an omnichannel advertising platform, uniquely enabling brands and agencies to run data-driven programs across walled garden media. It empowers both media leaders and activation teams to drive impactful results from their advertising program with AI-powered decisioning, activation and optimization solutions. Its partners include Google, Amazon Ads, Microsoft, Walmart Connect, Apple Search Ads, Instacart, Criteo, TikTok, Snap, Pinterest, Meta and more.
For over a decade, Skai has earned trust from notable brands such as HP, DoorDash, Sony, Philips, and L’Oreal. Renowned for innovation and a values-driven culture, Skai is headquartered in San Francisco and has eight international locations.
Visit skai.io for more information about Skai.