Brands Escalate Paid Search Marketing Christmas Spend

Sydney, (January 20, 2014) – The Australian paid search advertising market jumped more than 50 percent in spending activity in the final quarter of last year, driven by the end of year Christmas shopping frenzy according to research from digital marketing technology leader, Skai.

Skai reported that Australia had a stellar quarter compared to other regions, and significantly out-paced the global average of a 29 percent increase in fourth quarter search advertising spend compared to 2012.

“Australia is one of the hottest markets for paid search advertising spend, fuelled by a fast-growth online retail market and intense brand competition across many sectors” said Michel van Woudenberg, Skai Asia-Pacific Managing Director. “We are seeing advertisers in the retail, travel, finance, and FMCG sectors increase paid search spending as part of their overall digital marketing mix.”

The Skai data shows that paid search clicks, or the volume of ads clicked on, rose 6.1 percent in Australia, while brands allocated 12 percent more dollars than the third quarter of last year, Skai said

“The final quarter jump was dramatic and shows Australian brand marketers view paid search as a powerful way to get their products and services in front of consumers in a key period for online shopping,” van Woudenberg said. “Also, if brands have high visibility over Christmas that increases their awareness with consumers for the next year.”

Skai’s research is based on $5 billion in global paid search advertising spend across a sample of advertisers and agencies using its platform to manage campaigns across Google and other networks.

Skai released the data as part of its 2013 Global Search Trends research, which details the entire spectrum of search advertising across all industries, offering global and regional data, analysis and findings. Please visit www.Kenshoo.com/SearchGlobalTrends to see the infographics.

About Skai
Skai is a digital marketing technology company that engineers premium solutions for search marketing, social media and online advertising. Brands, agencies and developers use Skai Search, Skai Social, Skai Local and Skai SmartPath to direct more than $200 billion in annualized client online sales revenue through the platform. Skai is the only Facebook strategic Preferred Marketing Developer with native API solutions for ads across Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Twitter, Facebook, and Facebook Exchange. The Skai platform delivers Infinite OptimizationTM through closed-loop targeting, universal integration, dynamic attribution, and predictive analytics. Skai powers campaigns in more than 190 countries for nearly half of the Fortune 50 and all 10 top global ad agency networks. Skai clients include CareerBuilder, Expedia, Facebook, KAYAK, Havas Media, Hitwise, iREP, John Lewis, Resolution Media, Sears, Starcom MediaVest Group, Tesco, Travelocity, Walgreens, and Zappos. Skai has 18 international locations and is backed by Sequoia Capital, Arts Alliance, and Tenaya Capital. Please visit www.Kenshoo.com for more information.

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