Since Facebook launched News Feed ads in late 2012, the units have been widely adopted by brands and have consistently outperformed the platform's original right-hand side ads, according to a recent report by Marin Software.
In its analysis Marin found News Feed ads in 3Q13 had a 44x higher CTR and a 5x higher conversion rate than right-side (RHS) ads. Moreover, the News Feed ad units had a 67% lower cost-per-click (CPC).
Marketers increased their spend on Facebook News Feed ads 140% in 3Q13 compared with the previous quarter, Marin also found.
Below, additional key findings from the report, which was based on data from 100 active Facebook campaigns run by Marin Software.
Mobile Ads
- The percentage of advertisers opting for mobile-only campaigns increased 45% between 2Q13 and 3Q13.
- Mobile-only News Feed ads outperformed desktop ads by significant margins: CTR was a 187% higher and CPCs were 22% lower.
Custom Audiences
- Custom Audiences, the Facebook tool that allows to brands to target users using a combination of Facebook-provided interest data and advertiser-owned data, is also being increasingly adopted by marketers.
- The number of advertisers using Custom Audiences increased 82% from 2Q13 to 3Q13.
- Ad creative that used Custom Audiences targeting had a conversion rate 3.87x greater than ad creative with only demographic or category-based targeting options.
- Custom Audiences targeting had a 14% lower CPC in 3Q13 and a 64% lower cost-per-conversion than category- or interest-based targeting alone.
About the research: The report was based on data from 100 active Facebook campaigns run by Marin Software in 3Q13.
