Digital Marketing Growth Holds Steady Over Q3 in 2020, Merkle Study Finds

The Q3 edition of Merkle’s Digital Marketing Trends Report indicates strong growth across key channels

Merkle launched its Digital Marketing Report (DMR) for Q3 this week highlighting how the pandemic and the election have influenced the marketing spend. As we’ve observed for most of the year, digital marketing trends in Q3 were reflective of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Across channels, some of the more extreme reverberations of the crisis lessened in Q3, but most of the numbers continue to show an industry that is not back to normal, nor necessarily settled upon a consistent “new normal.”

Learn more: 4 Marketing Trends That Died Quietly in 2020

Here’s a quick look at key changes across some of the major digital marketing channels:

Paid Search:

• Google ad spending increased to 11% in Q3 compared to 9% in Q2
• Average CPC declines also witnessed a significant improvement with Q3 declines coming at 10% against 22% in Q2
• Microsoft ad spend saw a 1% decrease Y/Y in Q3 down from 12% growth in Q2 2020
• Click growth also slowed from 28% Y/Y in Q2 to 16% Y/Y in Q3
• Average CPC fell from 15% in Q3 down from a 12% decline in Q2
• Google’s Local Inventory Ad share of total Google Shopping ad clicks held steady at less than half of it in pre-pandemic level
• Spending on Google Shopping ads increased by 12% Y/Y in Q3 2020, up from 7% in Q2
• Google text ad spending was up 9% in Q3 compared to 10% a quarter earlier

Key takeaway: As consumers move more of their activities offline as we get closer to the holiday season, a natural slump in click growth and search ad spending is expected.

Organic Search:

• Retailers and consumer goods brands have seen the strongest growth rates for organic search over the past two quarters with visits up 42% Y/Y in both Q2 and Q3. Travel organic search visits were down 37% Y/Y in Q3 2020, but that was an improvement from a 50% decline in Q2.
• On average, apparel brands saw an 11% decline in organic search visits in Q3, although more casual apparel brands are still seeing growth. Visits for other non-essential goods brands were up 54% Y/Y in Q3.
• On mobile devices, Google organic search visits were up 33% Y/Y in Q3, down from 35% growth in Q2. Phones and tablets combined to generate 64% of Google organic search visits to brand sites in Q3 2020.

Learn more: Tips on Engaging an Agency Partner To Make in-Housing a Reality

Amazon Ads

• With more retail sales moving back offline in Q3, click and sales growth for Amazon Sponsored Products ad both slowed compared to Q2, but continued to outpace other major digital ad products.
• Amazon Sponsored Brands ad spending witnessed an increase of 74% Y/Y in Q3 2020, up by 58% in Q2. Click growth slowed in comparison to Q2, but average CPC for the format increased 16% Y/Y in Q3 after falling 19% in Q2.
• Amazon Sponsored Product ads continued to generate a higher average sales per click than other Amazon ad formats in Q3 2020, but the gap between Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands ads has nearly closed

 Display and Social:

• Across all platforms, paid social ad investment was up 19% Y/Y in Q3 2020, up from 11% growth in Q2 2020. Spending on more traditional display ad platforms fell 3% Y/Y in Q3, an improvement from an 11% decline in Q2.
• Spending on Facebook ads, excluding Instagram, grew 12% Y/Y in Q3 2020, up from 4% growth in Q2. Spending on Instagram ads was up 34% Y/Y in Q3 2020, up from 30% growth a quarter earlier.
• Pinterest and Snapchat received 17% of total social budgets each among their advertisers in Q3 2020. Twitter accounted for 11% of social media ad budgets among its advertisers, while that rate was 6% for LinkedIn.

Learn more: 8 Experts on How Marketing Strategies and Budget Should Evolve During COVID-19

“The third quarter saw an overall strong sustained rebound, especially with retail and e-commerce, which are lifting platform growth despite continued low levels in categories like travel and financial services,” said Mark Ballard, VP, research at Merkle. “Across channels, most of the numbers continue to show industries are still adjusting to the impacts of the pandemic, navigating changing consumer and B2B behavior trends.”

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Content Originally Published by Google.

source https://blog.jsa.digital/index.php/2020/10/29/digital-marketing-growth-holds-steady-over-q3-in-2020-merkle-study-finds/