EUROPEAN FACEBOOK ADVERTISING BENCHMARK REPORT
Digital ad spending in Europe grew to €36.2 billion last year, and the opportunity for advertisers on Facebook has never been greater.
With 338 million monthly active users in Europe, Facebook has become a primary digital advertising channel for commerce companies driving profitable growth among increasingly mobile consumers.
The opportunity is huge for European and global advertisers alike, but strategic campaign segmentation is critical for high-ROI Facebook advertising in the region. Europe encompasses such a wide range of languages, cultures, and marketplace variations, which create a significant challenge for advertisers trying to most effectively reach new and existing customers across borders.
To give marketers in Europe and beyond critical insights for profit-driven advertising on Facebook, this report dives into performance benchmarks and best practices from countries across the continent. Data for each country is backed by expert insights from Nanigans’ in-market team, which offers localized strategic support to in-house advertisers throughout Europe.
WHAT’S IN THE REPORT This study analyzes tens of millions of dollars in Country benchmark data on Facebook ad Europe-targeted Facebook ad spend from Nanigans engagement, costs, and mobile vs. desktop trends advertisers during the period of February through July 2016. This report aggregates Facebook Comparative regional purchase rate benchmarks advertising performance data from ads targeted to users in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Targeted best practices for maximizing Facebook Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the advertising ROI United Kingdom.
Nanigans | Advertising Automation 1 European Facebook Advertising Benchmark Report
Belgium
KEY BENCHMARKS 0.4% $0.78 $2.75 click-through rate (CTR) cost per click (CPC) cost per mille (CPM)
Mobile vs. desktop ad spend
46% mobile 54% desktop
EUROPEAN INDEX
100%
50% 75% 45%
80% 58% 46%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Italy Spain France Belgium Sweden Denmark Germany Netherlands Switzerland United Kingdom CTR CPC CPM Mobile Share of Ad Spend Purchase Rate
All Metrics Are Indexed
EXPERT INSIGHTS
Advertisers often target Belgium as part of a regional Marketers using Nanigans can quickly rebuild existing strategy across the Low Countries, but language ads to swap out translated copy and creative elements segmentation is critical for relevant messaging. in just a few clicks, resulting in more tailored and more Translation is especially important in Belgium, where effective ads for Belgian audiences. Flemish dominates in the north, French in the south, and German in the east.
Nanigans | Profit-Driven Advertising Automation 2 European Facebook Advertising Benchmark Report
Denmark
KEY BENCHMARKS 0.5% $0.96 $4.62 click-through rate (CTR) cost per click (CPC) cost per mille (CPM)
Mobile vs. desktop ad spend
65% mobile 35% desktop
EUROPEAN INDEX
100%
69% 92% 76%
80% 83% 96%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Italy Spain France Belgium Sweden Denmark Germany Netherlands Switzerland United Kingdom CTR CPC CPM Mobile Share of Ad Spend Purchase Rate
All Metrics Are Indexed
EXPERT INSIGHTS
Denmark shares many characteristics with its Nordic When targeting customers in Denmark, consider using neighbors, including higher average Facebook Nanigans’ audience override tables to set highly advertising costs, and a tendency for shoppers segmented cost or return on ad spend goals based to spend more when buying online. Profit-driven on granular criteria. Bids will dynamically adjust to advertisers understand the downstream value of maximize returns and optimize budget allocation. investing more to acquire these high-value customers.
Nanigans | Profit-Driven Advertising Automation 3 European Facebook Advertising Benchmark Report
France
KEY BENCHMARKS 0.4% $0.69 $2.49 click-through rate (CTR) cost per click (CPC) cost per mille (CPM)
Mobile vs. desktop ad spend
71% mobile 29% desktop
EUROPEAN INDEX
100%
80% 51% 67% 41%
89% 84% 60%
40%
20%
0%
Italy Spain France Belgium Sweden Denmark Germany Netherlands Switzerland United Kingdom CTR CPC CPM Mobile Share of Ad Spend Purchase Rate
All Metrics Are Indexed
EXPERT INSIGHTS
France may have lower average CTRs compared to testing images, videos, and ad copy optimized toward other countries across Europe, but the purchase downstream actions like purchases—not just CTR— rate on Facebook ads is high, indexing at 84%. To advertisers can reduce wasted ad spend and only compel clicks that lead to higher revenues, the promote the creatives that deliver the highest ROI. most effective advertisers using Nanigans in France employ automated creative testing. By intelligently
Nanigans | Profit-Driven Advertising Automation 4 European Facebook Advertising Benchmark Report
Germany
KEY BENCHMARKS 0.5% $0.81 $3.95 click-through rate (CTR) cost per click (CPC) cost per mille (CPM)
Mobile vs. desktop ad spend
65% mobile 35% desktop
EUROPEAN INDEX
100%
80% 69% 78% 65%
83% 100% 60%
40%
20%
0%
Italy Spain France Belgium Sweden Denmark Germany Netherlands Switzerland United Kingdom CTR CPC CPM Mobile Share of Ad Spend Purchase Rate
All Metrics Are Indexed
EXPERT INSIGHTS
Facebook users in Germany exhibited the highest If advertisers can compel customers to click an ad, click-to-purchase rates of any country in this report. they are particularly well positioned to convert those However, average CTRs fell generally in the middle clicks into revenue. In this market, tools like Nanigans’ of the pack, so marketers must still be strategic automated creative testing can be highly effective in and relevant in their targeting to drive clicks and quickly identifying top-performing ads and scaling only subsequent purchases. those that deliver higher downstream returns.
Nanigans | Profit-Driven Advertising Automation 5 European Facebook Advertising Benchmark Report
Italy
KEY BENCHMARKS 0.6% $0.37 $2.07 click-through rate (CTR) cost per click (CPC) cost per mille (CPM)
Mobile vs. desktop ad spend
75% mobile 25% desktop
EUROPEAN INDEX
100%
80% 79% 36% 34%
95% 47% 60%
40%
20%
0%
Italy Spain France Belgium Sweden Denmark Germany Netherlands Switzerland United Kingdom CTR CPC CPM Mobile Share of Ad Spend Purchase Rate
All Metrics Are Indexed
EXPERT INSIGHTS
Facebook advertisers targeting Italian users benefit Costs may be lower, but remember that competition from lower costs, with some of the least expensive to reach the Italian users who are most likely to make CPMs and CPCs observed. These benchmarks can a purchase, download an app, or otherwise monetize make the country—along with Spain and Ireland— is still high. Be prepared to increase bids to win those an effective test market for soft campaign launches impressions over competitors to make the most before expanding more broadly. efficient use of ad budgets.
Nanigans | Profit-Driven Advertising Automation 6 European Facebook Advertising Benchmark Report
The Netherlands
KEY BENCHMARKS 0.7% $0.55 $3.75 click-through rate (CTR) cost per click (CPC) cost per mille (CPM)
Mobile vs. desktop ad spend
62% mobile 38% desktop
EUROPEAN INDEX
100%
80%
97% 53% 62%
60% 78% 22%
40%
20%
0%
Italy Spain France Belgium Sweden Denmark Germany Netherlands Switzerland United Kingdom CTR CPC CPM Mobile Share of Ad Spend Purchase Rate
All Metrics Are Indexed
EXPERT INSIGHTS
The Dutch tend to click Facebook ads more than any High CTRs and low purchase rates underscores the other country in this study, other than Sweden. While importance of optimizing campaigns beyond the engagement is strong, these clicks do not always click. Consider using Nanigans’ predictive revenue translate into purchases, app downloads, or other optimization to intelligently adjust bids and budgets revenue generating events. In fact, click-to-purchase based on real, downstream value—not just upper- rates in the Netherlands were the lowest observed. funnel engagement metrics.
Nanigans | Profit-Driven Advertising Automation 7 European Facebook Advertising Benchmark Report
Spain
KEY BENCHMARKS 0.6% $0.32 $1.82 click-through rate (CTR) cost per click (CPC) cost per mille (CPM)
Mobile vs. desktop ad spend
69% mobile 31% desktop
EUROPEAN INDEX
100%
80%
60% 82% 30% 30% 88% 79%
40%
20%
0%
Italy Spain France Belgium Sweden Denmark Germany Netherlands Switzerland United Kingdom CTR CPC CPM Mobile Share of Ad Spend Purchase Rate
All Metrics Are Indexed
EXPERT INSIGHTS
With higher CTRs and purchase rates, and the lowest A highly customizable reporting suite is key for CPMs and CPCs in this report, Spain is a unique target accurately analyzing segmented campaigns. Try using for European advertisers. The country can also be Nanigans to build a shareable reporting view that a challenging market due to its demographic and splits Spanish campaigns by region, objective, and economic diversity, necessitating careful segmentation demographics to quickly identify which audiences are based on regional culture and language. powering the best performance.
Nanigans | Profit-Driven Advertising Automation 8 European Facebook Advertising Benchmark Report
Sweden
KEY BENCHMARKS 0.7% $0.83 $5.86 click-through rate (CTR) cost per click (CPC) cost per mille (CPM)
Mobile vs. desktop ad spend
73% mobile 27% desktop
EUROPEAN INDEX
100%
80% 100% 80% 96% 93% 48%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Italy Spain France Belgium Sweden Denmark Germany Netherlands Switzerland United Kingdom CTR CPC CPM Mobile Share of Ad Spend Purchase Rate
All Metrics Are Indexed
EXPERT INSIGHTS
Historically, Sweden and other Nordic countries With costs and CTRs skewing high, advertisers must benchmark high for average order value from minimize the risk of overspending on metrics outside Facebook ads, making Swedish audiences among the of revenue-generating performance indicators. most expensive to reach. CTRs in the country were Use Nanigans’ automated stop loss protection to the highest in this study, yet purchase rates trended dynamically pause any ad that isn’t delivering optimal comparatively lower. performance to eliminate the chance of inefficient ads.
Nanigans | Profit-Driven Advertising Automation 9 European Facebook Advertising Benchmark Report
Switzerland
KEY BENCHMARKS 0.6% $0.96 $6.09 click-through rate (CTR) cost per click (CPC) cost per mille (CPM)
Mobile vs. desktop ad spend
69% mobile 31% desktop
EUROPEAN INDEX
100%
80%
90% 92% 100% 60% 87% 99%
40%
20%
0%
Italy Spain France Belgium Sweden Denmark Germany Netherlands Switzerland United Kingdom CTR CPC CPM Mobile Share of Ad Spend Purchase Rate
All Metrics Are Indexed
EXPERT INSIGHTS
The Swiss speak a number of different languages languages in ad creative. Marketers using Nanigans based on distinct regions of the country. French is can leverage build restrictions to automatically more prominent in the west, Italian in the south, and ensure, for example, that German ad copy isn’t German in the central and northern regions. Building unintentionally paired with an image featuring a call-to- many combinations of ads for such a segmented action in Italian. market can introduce the possibility of mismatched
Nanigans | Profit-Driven Advertising Automation 10 European Facebook Advertising Benchmark Report
The United Kingdom
KEY BENCHMARKS 0.5% $1.04 $5.46 click-through rate (CTR) cost per click (CPC) cost per mille (CPM)
Mobile vs. desktop ad spend
79% mobile 21% desktop
EUROPEAN INDEX
100%
75% 100% 90% 80% 100% 45%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Italy Spain France Belgium Sweden Denmark Germany Netherlands Switzerland United Kingdom CTR CPC CPM Mobile Share of Ad Spend Purchase Rate
All Metrics Are Indexed
EXPERT INSIGHTS
The UK has the highest share of mobile ad spend get creative to reach high-value audiences. Many of any country in this report. A strong mobile focus companies using Nanigans in the region rely heavily on comes partly from the UK’s rank as a top global automated creative testing and lookalike audiences. gaming market. New ad formats gain rapid adoption; These tools enable advertisers to rapidly test and already one third of UK Facebook mobile ad spend optimize creative to reach the users they can most goes to video inventory. The UK is a highly developed profitably monetize. market for Facebook advertising, so marketers must
Nanigans | Profit-Driven Advertising Automation 11 Facebook Advertising in Asia-Pacific: Global Insights Report | Nanigans
ABOUT NANIGANS
Nanigans advertising automation software empowers in-house marketing teams to grow the revenue impact of their digital advertising.
More than $600M in annualized ad spend is managed through Nanigans software by commerce companies worldwide that rely on Nanigans as a strategic lever of customer growth and revenue generation.
Offered as Software-as-a-Service, Nanigans features multichannel programmatic media buying, predictive revenue optimization, and real-time business intelligence across today’s most valuable digital channels.
ABOUT THIS REPORT
This report is representative of Facebook® ad impressions delivered by customers leveraging Nanigans advertising automation software to advertise in the European marketplace. It includes ad spend on both Facebook desktop and Facebook mobile, and excludes Facebook Exchange and Instagram. Data specific to each studied country (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) is based on millions of dollars in geographically targeted Facebook ad spend between February 1, 2016 and July 31, 2016.
The vast majority of Nanigans customers are direct response advertisers at ecommerce, gaming, and other Internet and mobile companies. Many leverage Nanigans’ ROI-based bidding algorithms, which focus on reaching high-value and high-ROI audiences (e.g. those who make purchases) and typically cost more to reach. As such, the data in this report may not necessarily be a proxy for the overall Facebook marketplace in each studied country.
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