Social Ad Spending Remains Strong

Despite the dramatic increase in media attention on social media recently, spending in the channel remains strong.
 
According to marketing technology provider Kenshoo and it's Q1 quarterly trends report (seen below), video and Instagram ads are what is continuing to drive social growth, while shopping ads on desktop and mobile boosted paid search in the first quarter of the year. 

Kenshoo found "no discernable impact" from the recent media scrutiny and actually detailed spending growth of 37 percent in social and 11 percent in paid search year over year. Impressive considering that the first quarter typically experiences lower than average spend by advertisers (at least historically). 

Video ad spending accounted for 41% of total social spending; Instagram ad spending doubled YoY while clicks tripled. In paid search, Shopping Campaign cost-per-click (CPC) dropped across devices YoY; improved responsiveness likely helped increase mobile click-through rate (CTR) while mobile accounted for 44% of search spending in Q1 2018.

"Social advertising has been under a microscope in recent months, but because of its effectiveness, advertisers continued to invest, especially in video and other visual ads," said Chris Costello, senior director of marketing research for Kenshoo.

"Meanwhile, search marketers saw improvements in mobile landing page responsiveness that likely increased click-through rates for mobile keyword searches, and advertisers responded by investing more heavily in those ads to boost engagement. Across both channels, we've seen time and time again that effective engagement was the catalyst for increased investment, as results justified the spending."