As search spending continued to rise in the just-ended third quarter, Google regained market share lost during the last couple of quarters to Microsoft's Bing search engine, according to a new report to be released Tuesday morning by Efficient Frontier, which manages about $1 billion in search, display, and social advertising for agencies and advertisers.
At the same time, says Efficient Frontier, Facebook is becoming a major marketing vehicle for advertisers. And tablets, out just a year or so, already have captured 77% of mobile advertising spending among retail advertisers.
Highlights from the report, which comes amid other signs that online advertising is weathering the current economic troubles:
* Search ad spending rose 20% in the U.S., thanks to increases in ad budgets in retail and finance. But return on investment fell because advertisers decided to go for market share over higher returns.
Search Spending and Return on Investment
* Google regained market share for the first time since the Yahoo-Bing alliance began last year. As search spend rises and advertisers look to buy ads in volume, Google has won back market share because it simply has more inventory to sell--despite Yahoo/Bing’s higher return on investment. This jibes with a recent report from digital marketing firm IgnitionOne as well.
Search Market Share
* Facebook ad prices rose 54% (in cost per click) from the second to the third quarter alone. Why? More advertisers are crowding in, and competition is rising. They'll continue to rise, at a somewhat more moderate 30% to 40%, in the fourth quarter.
* Ad spending on Facebook rose 25% from the second quarter. Again, more advertisers wanting more fans.
* Tablets captured 77% of retail mobile ad spending in September. So much for ads on smartphones.
* U.S. search ad spending will rise 15% in the fourth quarter. Mobile will be up to 10% of that.
