A study by Wolfgang Digital examining the click-through rate (CTR) of different types of Facebook ads reveals that advertising placed in users’ news feeds receives significantly higher levels of engagement.
Analysing 3m Facebook impressions from 247 campaigns over a seven-month period from June 2013 to January 2014, the Wolfgang Digital team determined that the average CTR for a Facebook display ad – the ones that appear on the right-hand side of the news feed – was 0.04pc (which is about half the average CTR for display ads across the web).
Ads placed in users’ news feeds, however, demonstrated a CTR of 2.09pc, making them 51 times more likely to generate clicks than their display counterparts. The high CTR exhibited by this form of advertising, according to Wolfgang Digital, is akin to the level seen by ads from Google AdWords.
Facebook has 2.4m users in Ireland but, despite its wide user base, advertising on this platform often suffers from low reach. Wolfgang’s figures reflect a similar study by AdRoll last year, which concluded that news feed ads were 49 times more likely to generate clicks than display ads.
