Advertisers Spent 23% More On Paid Search On Cyber Monday

Advertisers spent 23% more year-over-year on paid search on Cyber Monday, according digital marketing software firm Kenshoo’s Online Retail Holiday Shopping Report.

The report comprises Cyber Monday and the week leading up to one of the season’s busiest days for online shopping. The dataset examined by Kenshoo represents more than 12 billion total search advertising impressions, 160 million clicks and three million online sales transactions across U.S. online retail advertisers.

The report’s Cyber Monday findings include:

  • Online search advertising spend increased 23% year-over-year on Cyber Monday.
  • Online retail revenue driven from search advertising increased 6% year-over-year on Cyber Monday.
  • Average search advertising cost per click (CPC) increased 13% year-over-year on Cyber Monday.
  • Online retailers’ return on advertising spend (ROAS) decreased 13% year-over-year on Cyber Monday.
  • Total sales driven by search advertising for the week leading up to Cyber Monday increased 22% year-over-year.

Conversely, Kenshoo’s Black Friday findings revealed a 29% increase in revenue driven by search advertising on Black Friday and a 40% revenue increase on Thanksgiving Day

Aaron Goldman, chief marketing officer for Kenshoo, said it appears retailers and shoppers “front-loaded their activity to get a jump on the holiday season. Overall efficiency metrics are down slightly year-over-year with increased competition in search advertising auctions inflating cost per click prices for retailers.”

Jim Tierney ([email protected]) is a senior writer for Multichannel Merchant. You can connect with him on Twitter (TierneyMCM) and LinkedIn, or call him at 203-358-4265.