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One Third of U.S. Online Ads Now Served By Facebook

 

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facebookAccording to comScore, 1.1 trillion ads were served to U.S. internet users in the first quarter of 2011. Of those 1.1 trillion ads, 346 billion of those (31%) were on Facebook. That's right -- you read that correctly. Facebook now serves nearly one third of all online advertisements in the U.S.

To help put this data into perspective, consider the representation of some of the other major online companies. Yahoo has a 10 percent share, Microsoft has 5 percent, and Google holds 2.5 percent. Basically, no other online company comes close to Facebook's market share.

Clicks, Not Impressions

Facebook's dominance makes it clear that an impression isn't the metric online advertisers need to be concerned with. Instead, online marketers need to focus on click-through rates (CTR) and ultimately, lead and sale conversions. The massive volume of impressions has caused CTRs to decline. In 2010, Facebook ad CTRs were at .05% on average, which is half of the industry average. Additionally, the cost-per-click (CPC) for Facebook ads rose from $.27 in 2009 to $.49 in 2010. With more advertisers adopting Facebook's advertising platform, it is likely that CPC will continue to rise.

Marketing Takeaway

ComScore's data demonstrates that Facebook's dominance in the online marketing industry is growing. However, marketers should infer that this dominance will make it even more difficult and expensive to generate results. As a marketer, you should continue to experiment with Facebook and use free tools like Facebook Pages to drive traffic and leads to your website.

What do you think about this new Facebook data?

Facebook Ebook CTA

Posted by Kipp Bodnar on Wed, May 04, 2011 @ 02:30 PM

COMMENTS

Yes, we are using it! I had no idea we were until I checked for the property I advertise for a minute ago. Apparently, Hotpads post my ad automatically, when I post to the Internet through the Appfolio. Thank you, Appfolio! :)

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 at 2:48 PM by Olga Khusid


I wonder how relevant online ads are becoming with AdBlock becoming more popular by the day. 
 

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 at 3:12 PM by jw


If one third of advertisers are on FB then I would rather advertise somewhere else. My best friend advertised on LinkedIn and had better response. You can still use your Facebook page as the place they link too but get a different level of visibility.

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 at 3:16 PM by Taylor O'Shea


You left out one little but important word: display. These numbers are for display ads, not ads in general.

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 at 3:45 PM by intransigent


"Facebook's dominance makes it clear that an impression isn't the metric online advertisers need to be concerned with."  
 
I don't necessarily disagree with this statement, but can some please explain it?

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 at 5:16 PM by Barrett Joseph Rossie


It really depends on what your trying to sell. If your targeting B2C customers Facebook & Adwords are the way to go. Although saying that when I look back at our conversion rates (lead to customer) PPC is 10x lower than organic traffic.

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 at 5:33 PM by Ralph Vugts


@intransigent makes an important point... This is "display" ads. I suspect if we talked about "search ads" these numbers would be vastly different (and lean mightily toward the Goog). 
 
The other important point (and to @Barret's question) is that these numbers don't demonstrate Facebook's "dominance" as a leader in display advertising - but rather their dominance as a Web property that generates a ton of traffic ("Winning" as @charliesheen might say). But in fact they actually suck rather extensively in CTR as compared to other properties. That said, I definitely agree with the point of the post - experiment - see if it works and move along quickly if it doesn't.

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 at 5:50 PM by Robert Rose


Facebook may not have much of a click through rate, but it is still a great place to link and ultimately driving more traffic to your website.

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 at 6:17 PM by Reginald Spurlock


Facebook is taking over the internet.

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 at 7:57 PM by Zach Crawley


Inbound Marketing is marketing directly to customers through search engine marketing. Learn how WordStream can help you create an Inbound Marketing machine. 
comment form: http://inboundmarketing.web.id

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 at 9:06 PM by Hitlor


Facebook is the largest social network in all over the word.So i think this is very important to us,not only for Americans but also all of us.

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 at 9:09 PM by amal madushanka


Wow, I think that's so easy to believe in knowing that Facebook is very popular all over the world. U.S. Online ads will sure earn a big profit from it.

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 at 10:24 PM by richmaldita


Facebook will only continue to grow as more and more Internet users come online in the next few years. Relevant and very targeted adds that address a specific and relevant need will continue to do well and increase. Non specific adds will in my opinion decrease.

posted on Thursday, May 05, 2011 at 1:21 PM by Rusty O'Connor


interesting stats no doubt but I really like the comment about if a "third are on Facebook I'd want to advertise somewhere else" - ionteresting rationale. Surely though its about having a mix? and therefore using a number of media

posted on Friday, May 06, 2011 at 8:00 AM by toby russell


I've been experimenting with trying to create some of those 'relevant and very targeted ads' praised above and am finding serious flaws in Facebook's current feature for targeting ads at pages and groups. Although you may think you are creating a target directed at a specific page/group, it's pretty clear to me that, for now, the target is really very pre-processed substitute for the real group/page name and may or may not be giving you the exposure you are after. See my blog post entitled "Facebook ads: Heartbreakingly close to useful"

posted on Sunday, May 08, 2011 at 5:59 PM by Anne Gunn


As a user, I find FaceBook to be inane and insipid. So much stupid stuff and banal conversations, it's like being an adult in High School.  
 
 
 
Having said that, if you have low-end, low-sophistication spectrum products, it is the right place to be to market your business.

posted on Monday, May 09, 2011 at 10:41 AM by Lar


In my opinion, the quality of the discussions on the Facebook have nothing to do with the sophistication of the participants when it comes to the purchasing power, services, and goods.

posted on Monday, May 09, 2011 at 1:13 PM by Olga Khusid


Comments have been closed for this article.