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.
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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.
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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.
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About the research: The report was based on data from 100 active Facebook campaigns run by Marin Software in 3Q13.