Marin Software Finds Travelers Click More Ads in Autumn

Post-summer sales drive online consumer activity

San Francisco, CA (October 17, 2016) – Marin Software Incorporated (NYSE: MRIN), a leading provider of cross-channel, cross-device, enterprise marketing software for advertisers and agencies, released research findings today showing that for the travel industry, consumer ad clicks peaked during autumn 2015. Impressions and spend reached their highest point over the summer.

The research results, actionable analysis, and key takeaways are published in Marin’s report, The State of Travel Search Advertising: Trends, Formats, and Paths to Success.

Although clicks on travel-related searches usually are expected to jump in the summer months, such clicks actually reached their highest point during autumn 2015, right after the traditional travel season. Marin’s report provides three possible explanations:

• Post-summer sales begin in autumn, driving consumers to click travel ads to find low-priced deals.
• Early-bird travelers are already planning for trips next summer.
• Budget-conscious consumers are specifically looking for an off-season adventure, having waited out the expensive, popular, and crowded summer season.

While consumers may not have clicked the most during summer, advertisers certainly spent the most during that season. There were many similarities between search impressions and advertiser spend, with summer being the peak at 106% of annual average and winter being the lowest point at 89%.

“With so many advertisers focusing on the summer months to gain the attention of potential and interested travelers, the autumn window remains an untapped opportunity,” said John McNulty, Vice President of Global Marketing at Marin Software. “Our research indicates this is bound to change in 2016 and beyond, as advertisers become more familiar with the click behaviors of their target travel audiences.”

To create its report, Marin sampled the Marin Global Online Advertising Index and analyzed a representative set of enterprise retailers spending over $100,000 per month on Google and Bing text ads and Product Listing Ads (now called Shopping Ads). As a result, the data and findings skew toward larger retailer performance, and may not reflect performance trends for small retailers. However, the size and diversity of the dataset enables a comprehensive analysis of shopping ad performance.