Q3 2019

Click Trends

Overall search click volume has grown 14% YOY, with a big jump in ad clicks for healthcare (85%). Today’s digital advertising landscape has more of a “real-time” approach in that it can connect doctors and patients more immediately. Healthcare brands are able to reach potential customers with discretion, often when they are actively searching for information about their health problems.

The technology industry came in second, with a 25% increase. Vendors and service providers in this vertical continue to grow and innovate to outpace the competition.

Click Volume

Q3 2018 = 100

CPC

CTR

Search CPCs

The most notable decrease in CPCs was for healthcare, which dropped 47% YoY and now sit at $0.61 for Q3 2019. Consumers are heading to the internet for their healthcare education, and marketers in the industry see this as an opportunity to further engage with patients.

The lowest CPC overall was for retail ($0.35), a 20% YoY decrease from Q3 2018 ($0.44).

eCommerce

Investment in eCommerce advertising continues to grow, with Marin’s customer base reaching a new quarterly high in Q3 ad spend, backed by a record-breaking Prime Day and a strong back-to-school season. eCommerce ad spend was up 115% in Q3 2019 compared to Q3 2018, and eCommerce ad spend was up 51% versus Q2 2019. Due to increased market saturation, the cost per eCommerce click was up 10.5% in Q3 2019 compared to Q2 2019.

As we head into the Q4 holiday season, we so no reason eCommerce growth would change course, and expect to see a really strong push through the end of the year as retailers advertise products online.

Sponsored Brands continue to account for about 20% of the eCommerce ad budgets through Q3. The CPC for Sponsored Brands is slightly higher (27%) than that for Sponsored Products, due to the prominent top-of-page ad placement.

Google Shopping Ads

eCommerce Spend

Q3 2018 = 100

eCommerce CPC

Q4 2018 = 100

Methodology

Each quarter, we aggregate advertising performance across our customer base, and share our results with digital marketing professionals to compare against their own initiatives. In addition to global industry trends, we explore the most compelling areas of digital marketing, including the evolution of mobile, the best use of creative for more clicks and market share, and using the right search and social tools to attract the right customers.

Benchmarks are calculated using a “same store sales” approach with only the advertisers who were clients during Q3 2018 to Q3 2019. Performance of a specific segment may be materially influenced by performance of one or two larger advertisers.