May 20, 2024
Facebook is quite possibly the most complicated mystery when it comes to digital marketing. What's the algorithm favoring this week? Is my CTR anywhere near what everyone else is getting? Should I go with an image or video? That's why we went extra deep for Facebook in Q2's Benchmark Report.
Read on to see what we found after we analyzed over 1 billion ad impressions for Facebook News Feed, Right Hand Placement, Marketplace, Audience Network, and Messenger to surface median CPC, CPM, and CTR for each channel.
Be sure to read the Q2 2019 PPC Benchmark Report for additional ad performance trends. And, check out our Benchmark Report page for the latest reports by quarter.
Facebook News Feed CPC, CPM, & CTR for Q2 2019 at-a-glance
From the 800 million ad impressions and nearly 10 million clicks analyzed in Q2 2019 for Feed placement ads, here's what we found for CPC, CPM, and CTR:
Key Takeaways
- In the battle between Feed and Right Hand placements, Feed is the clear winner in terms of cost and engagement. The median number of ads clicked in a month rose from 13 to 17 according to a CNBC report . It’s still competitive to advertising in the News Feed.
Facebook Right-Hand Placement CPC, CPM, & CTR for Q2 2019 at-a-glance
From the 8 million ad impressions analyzed in Q2 2019 for Right Hand placement ads, here's what we found for CPC, CPM, and CTR:
Key Takeaways
- From our observations, low clicks resulted in very high costs. The shrinking effect of right hand placement ads is clear this quarter. For brand reach, right hand is still a worthwhile placement, but it’s more expensive than other areas of Facebook.
Facebook Marketplace Placement CPC, CPM, & CTR for Q2 2019 at-a-glance
From the 15 million ad impressions analyzed in Q2 2019 for Facebook Marketplace ads, here's what we found for CPC, CPM, and CTR.
Key Takeaways
- Marketplace is attracting advertising dollars quicker than Facebook stories, and seeing greater engagement than right hand placement ads. CPC remains low and is competitive with other placements for consumer products.
Facebook Audience Network CPC, CPM, & CTR for Q2 2019 at-a-glance
In Q2 2019, we analyzed over 177 million ad impressions and over 2 million clicks for ads in Facebook’s Audience Network. Here's what we found for CPC, CPM, and CTR:
Median CPC decreased slightly to $0.62 since last quarter, while it remains 12 cents higher than it was a year ago in Q2 2018.
Key Takeaways
- CPC decreased by 17% since Q1 2019
- CPC increased by 21% year over year since Q2 2018
We found that median CPM continued its upward climb, ending the first half of the year at $7.84, an increase of 11% from Q1. Compared to this time last year, median CPMs are $3.72 more expensive.
Key Takeaways
- CPM increased by 11% since Q1 2019
- CPM increased by 90% year over year since Q2 2018
Median CTR for ads in Facebook’s Audience Network increased to 1.23% for Q2 2019. And median CTR is up 48% compared to the same time last year, reversing the downward trend we observed last quarter.
Key Takeaways
- CTR increased by 24% since Q1 2019
- CTR increased by 48% year over year since Q2 2018
Facebook Messenger CPC, CPM, & CTR for Q2 2019 at-a-glance
In Q2 2019, we analyzed 70 million ad impressions and over 500,000 clicks for ads in Facebook Messenger. Here's what we found for CPC, CPM, and CTR:
Median CPC rose 27 cents since last quarter, but is still down 20 cents from same time last year.
Key Takeaways
- CPC increased by 34% since Q1 2019
- CPC decreased by 16% year over year since Q2 2018
We found that median CPM increased $0.69 from last quarter and is nearly the same price as it was a year ago in Q2 2018.
Key Takeaways
- CPM increased by 10.6% since Q1 2019
- CPM decreased by 2.6% year over year since Q2 2018
Median CTR for ads on Facebook Messenger decreased to 0.66%, nearly the same as we observed in Q4 2018. CTR is still up 12% Y/Y.
Key Takeaways
- CTR decreased by 18.5% since Q1 2019
- CTR increased by 12% year over year since Q2 2018
Facebook ad trends Q2 2019
News Feed redesigned to Stories: Facebook may soon be making changes to News Feed according to tests it’s been running. Swipable Stories carousels offer a one-tap option to advance and posts always appear fully visible. Facebook has said before there’s no more room for ads in News Feed, and as users get more comfortable with Stories, it may be where Facebook focuses next.
Users can clear histories: In a strategy to offer users more privacy options, Facebook is letting users clear their entire histories, but marketers are worried it could mess with targeting options. The option would give people the ability to see and delete the data that third-party sites and apps share about them. For example, Custom Audiences relies in part on data about visits people make to an advertiser’s website or app.
Tools for SMBs: Facebook hasn’t forgotten about the little guys. The platform unveiled an automated ad builder and appointment manager specifically for small businesses. The automatic ads are tailored for small businesses of 1-2 people who have little marketing experience. Through the new feature, they can answer a few questions about their company and campaign goals and based on the answers and info on their Facebook Page Facebook will create recommendations for a target audience, budget, and even creative options.
More transparent Ad Library: If you use Facebook’s Ad Library, expect to see some updates there. Facebook says it is “making transparency information more visible on Pages, expanding access to our API to help more people analyze political or issue ads, and exempting news publishers from labeling their ads as related to politics or issues in the US.”
Download the entire report for all the stats on CPM, CPC, and CTR benchmarks for Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Ads, Google Display Network, YouTube, and Bing Ads.