A report on Facebook’s progress in Q1 2015 suggests the social giant might at last be getting its advertising strategy right across desktop and mobile channels.
And about time too.
Following its beyond-ballyhooed IPO in May 2012, Facebook was dogged by disappointing financials and a constant hum of criticism, not only that it was failing to monetize its mobile users, but that social advertising generally was failing to find an audience.
But with a much-improved mobile ad business, and its winning video strategy, Facebook’s response to its critics is looking increasingly robust–certainly based on evidence from a new report by Facebook Advertising Partner Nanigans, which shows not only growth in spending, but leaps in click-through rates, based on a survey restricted to brands using Nanigans software.
Global CTRs were up 260 percent from Q1 2014, and eCommerce CTRs 281 percent. Gaming CTRs also saw an overall growth, but a recent small dip. It’s also notable that video ad spend grew by almost 300 percent in the last quarter, while multi-product ad spend grew five times, with mobile app ads steadily closing in on domain ads as the spend priority. If these results in any way reflect the experience of brands with other Facebook Advertising Partners, the picture is positive.
Questions do remain to be answered about the durability of Facebook’s user base in the United States and Europe, even as it continues to grow in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and about users’ long-term reaction to its steady reconfiguration as a news and video source rather than a social platform, but right now Facebook’s future is clearer and rosier than its most obvious competitors.
