Study: Social Platforms and Portals Give Advertisers the Highest-Quality Users

A new report from Aggregate Knowledge finds that advertisers get higher-quality users from social channels and portals than from networks and exchanges. Social platforms and portals also deliver better reach.

Costs
According to Aggregate Knowledge’s “Global Media Intelligence Report” for the second quarter of 2013, CPMs (cost per 1,000 impressions), CPAs (cost per action/conversion) and CPCs (cost per click) inched closer to the average across all channels. Exchanges offered the best cost efficiency in previous quarters, but the channel’s advantage has diminished.

Networks, on the other hand, saw average costs decline by 67 percent quarter-over-quarter. Aggregate Knowledge notes that activity on networks increased, though a proportionate rise in revenues wasn’t observed. This suggests that the channel was used for lower-valued actions, such as newsletter sign-ups or email opt-ins.

Reach
When it came to reach efficiency (i.e., efficiency in reaching new users, coupled with exclusivity and cost), portals and social channels continued to reign supreme in the second quarter.

“While networks and exchanges drive volume in terms of overall users, they are not channels that have a high number of exclusive or unique users,” the report notes. Aggregate Knowledge suggests that marketers looking to extend their reach and find new users that they haven’t marketed to already should shift more of their spending on campaigns that run on portals and social platforms.

User quality
According to the report, social channels and portals also had a leg up on networks and exchanges when it came to reaching users that can be marketed to consistently (i.e., quality users).

Aggregate Knowledge notes that networks and exchanges might be doing a better job of enabling advertisers to consistently target users.

Funnel attribution
The report also shares that social channels and exchanges were the most likely to have influenced a conversion in the upper funnel in the second quarter.

Operating systems (OS)
Aggregate Knowledge reports that Mac delivered 8.6 percent more conversions than Windows in the second quarter. The company says this highlights the possibility that the Mac user base comprises more “luxury users” or users with more disposable income.

Mobile vs. desktop
The study finds that mobile browser and OS usage delivered 7.3 percent of converting users in the second quarter, and that mobile browser and OS usage accounted for 8 percent of online events (i.e., all traffic Aggregate Knowledge saw on a particular OS or Web browser).

“The fact that mobile users convert at a lesser rate than desktop users compared to online events generated suggests that users may be viewing ads on their mobile devices, but may then go to their desktop to convert,” according to the report.