facebook-h1 2020 ad report-v2 2020... · twitter $10.9 m instagram $13.5 m jan feb mar apr may june...

FacebookH1 2020 Advertising Report

Introduction

Facebook is on everyone’s minds lately. In just the first half of 2020, the platform has been used

as an informational tool during an international pandemic, an organizing tool during national

Black Lives Matter protests, and most recently, come under fire as the subject of massive

boycotts around the subject of politics, misinformation, and what free speech really means.

Amid these changes, some advertisers have held strong in their advertising dominance on the

platform, while others have given way to come unexpected newcomers.

This report uses Pathmatics Explorer to dive into the data on Facebook’s biggest advertisers in

the first half of 2020, and take a look at what has changed as boycotts gained steam into July.

Here’s what we found.

2 | Facebook H1 2020 Advertising ReportAll data from Pathmatics Explorer as of 7/15/2020. Data for Instagram begins on 4/15/2020. Pathmatics spend estimates are based on our proprietary panel and spend methodology. They may not accurately estimate the spend for any advertiser, and should be used for directional trend analysis

As concerns grew over questionable political tweets and harmful rhetoric, Twitter began enforcing its policy regarding hate or violent speech in posts beginning the week of May 30th. But Facebook pushed back, arguing concerns over free speech and First Amendment rights. However, since Facebook is a privately held company, they have the ability to choose which content is shown on their platform, in accordance with their terms of service.

This was essentially the argument from the #StopHateForProfit campaign, an organization which began lobbying advertisers to pull their ad dollars from the platform, a few weeks ago.

As of publication, more than 180 brands have joined the boycott, halting Facebook spend as early as late June to show their solidarity with the #stophateforprofit campaign.

From Like to Dislike: Advertisers Boycott Facebook


$1

$10

$100

$1,000

$10,000

$100,000

$1,000,000

6/21 6/22 6/23 6/24 6/25 6/26 6/27 6/28 6/29 6/30 7/1 7/2 7/3 7/4 7/5

Facebook Boycott Spend in Dollars[log scale]

Will the boycott cause Facebook to change their policies? And where will the extra ad dollars, no longer spoken for, now go? A few early indicators show major shifts to YouTube, Amazon, and Twitter.


$ – $250,000 $500,000 $750,000

68%

77%

222%

158%

549% Target

Geico

Samsung

Condé Nast

Best Buy Co., Inc.

$ - $ 5,000.00 $ 10,000.00 $ 15,000.00 $ 20,000.00

127.91%

133.73%

114.93%

96.34%

99.38%

Change in spend between Q2 and after July 1st

Q2 Post July 1st

Top 5 for each channel based on Q2 rankings

Disney

Walmart Stores, Inc.

The Kraft Heinz Company

Kimberly-Clark Corporation

TD Ameritrade, Inc.

$ - $ 1,000.00 $ 2,000.00 $ 3,000.00 $ 4,000.00

1235%

4313%

317%

296%

Top Advertisers: H1 2020Before there were boycotts, there was

COVID-19, Black LIves Matter protests,

the start of 2020 election campaigns,

and...business as usual. Here’s a look

at where we stood through the first

two quarters of 2020.


81.7

51.5

41.7

40.0

33.3

32.2

32.1

32.1

30.8

Proctor & Gamble

U.S Cencus Bereau

Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.

Home Depot

Purple Innovation

Wix.com CBS

Domino's

Pizza

Million $- 0 50 100 150 200

Disney

LLC Home Box Office (HBO)

$211.8$81.7

$51.5

$41.7

$40.0

$33.3

$32.2

$32.1

$32.1

$30.8

Top Advertisers: H1 2020

Dominos

A mainstay on our top Facebook lists over the years, Dominos has retained its top position by investing 97% of their digital budget into Facebook-owned entities throughout the year, with 79% of that spending concentrated on Facebook.

Those following the pizza brand know this is nothing new. The advertiser has invested heavily in Facebook for the last few years, with both an investment share and creative strategy that has remained relatively unchanged even throughout some of 2020’s big ups and downs (stay at home orders, and protests, to name a few).

The one small exception is seen in late March/early April, when a select few contactless delivery Facebook and Instagram ads surfaced on the platform. In addition, Domino’s shifted its small percentage of desktop video creatives to messages of food safety.

#10

6 | Facebook H1 2020 Advertising ReportAll data from Pathmatics Explorer as of 7/15/2020. Data for Instagram begins on 4/15/2020. Pathmat-ics spend estimates are based on our proprietary panel and spend methodology. They may not accurately estimate the spend for any advertiser, and should be used for directional trend analysis

Digital Overview for Domino’s

Monthly Spend (USD)

$5 M

$3 M

$1 M

Desktop Display$682 K

Mobile Display$7 K

Mobile Video$112 K

Desktop Video$525 K

Facebook$30.8 M

Twitter$4 K

Instagram$6.8 M

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June

17%

79%

1%2%

CBS

Now a player in the ubiquitous streaming wars, CBS joins Disney and HBO as top advertisers on Facebook for the first half of 2020, vying for eyeballs, or more pointedly, new subscriptions, during the COVID-19 safer at home mandates.

While only spending 24% of its overall ad budget on Facebook, CBS joins our top 10 report for the first time due to a significant spending push from March - May. Compared to the first half of 2019, the advertiser has nearly doubled their Facebook ad budget this year, showing they’re willing to go all-in on ads for CBS all-access.

In fact, all of CBS’s Facebook ads from March-May are for CBS all access, and many of them offer one month free. This is a change from ads prior to mid-March, where only one free week was being offered.

#9


4%

3%

4%

4%

3%

2%

2%

2%

2%

2%

5%

2%

3%

Geography Breakdown for CBS

High-spend Metro

Spend by metro

LOW HIGH

Digital Overview for CBS

Monthly Spend (USD)$14 M

$10 M

$6 M

$2 M

Desktop Display$52.2 M

Mobile Display$28.7 M

Mobile Video$0 K

Desktop Video$17.2 M

Facebook$32.1 M

Twitter539 K

Instagram$2.5 M


24%

22%

39%

13%

2%

Wix#8 Website design tool Wix is a heavy hitter on Facebook, allocating 90% of their budget, YTD, to the platform.

Unique to the brand is their lack of COVID-19 messaging throughout March, April, and May, when most other brands did a noticeable pivot in either messaging or offerings. Given the nature of their software, which can be used by anyone, from anywhere, this isn’t entirely surprising.

In the first half of 2019, Wix leaned almost exclusively on photo posts, using visualizations to tell the story of their brand. This year, however, the brand has shifted to link posts that include trackable calls-to-action (CTAs), likely to increase conversions and improve the ability to define the ROI on their Facebook ad investment.


Link Post$21.6 M

Photo Post$10.5 M

Other$58 K

67%

33%

Creative Type Breakdown for Wix

Digital Overview for Wix

Monthly Spend (USD) $9 M

$7 M

$5 M

$3 M

$1 M


Mobile Display$900 K

Mobile Video$85 K

Desktop Video$1.3 M

Facebook$32.1 M

Twitter$4 K

Instagram$696 K


90%

4%4%2%

Average Daily Spend: $5,362,300

$14 K

$10 K

$6 K

$2 K

Daily Spend

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

HBO

Stop searching—start streaming. That’s the text on HBO’s newest ads for HBO Max, their new streaming service that launched this year. And they weren’t kidding. One of the newest streamers to hit the market in 2020, HBO came in strong, boosting their spend in April to support the HBO Max launch.

Along with the uptick in spending comes a shift in creatives, moving from the promotion of specific shows on HBO Now, to strictly HBO Max promotions, leaning less on particular shows and more on the breadth of its new offering and the promise of a free trial.

#7


H1 Facebook Spend for HBO

Purple#6 Direct-to-consumer (D2C) mattress brands are everywhere right now, and Purple Mattress is certainly in the game, coming in at #6 so

in H1 2020. Similar to trends we see for many D2C brands, Purple has invested heavily in Facebook, seeming to increase their investment in the platform year over year. In fact, compared to the same time period in 2019, Purple has increased its Facebook ad investment by 79%.

Unlike many other advertisers, Purple’s digital investments remained relatively stable during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we didn’t see much of a change in creatives or messaging. The Black Lives Matter protests, however, which occurred at the beginning of June, were a different story. In solidarity with protesters “blacking out” their social media pages during the protests, we see Purple’s investment go down to $0 on June 3.

Other notable spend spikes for purple appear around holidays, where the brand offers discounts and sales to drive business (a strategy we’ve seen from competitors such as Casper Mattress, and others).

What’s most interesting to us though, is the difference in tone between Purple’s website and their Facebook ads. Their website includes an About page complete with illustrations and a bit of humor, and, like every millennial-targeting D2C company, they have a page dedicated to their pet beds, complete with playful dog photos. So one has to ask—why not carry some of this tone and imagery into Facebook ads? Either way, kudos to Purple for breaking through the mattress clutter.


Digital Overview for Purple


$7 M

$5 M

$3 M

$1 M



Mobile Video$1151 K

Desktop Video$8.1 M

Facebook$33.3 M

Twitter$400 K

Instagram$1.5 M


3%

61% 15%

21%

Average Daily Spend: $228,500

$450 K

$350 K

$250 K

$150 K

$50 K

Daily Spend

June Facebook Advertising for Purple

6/1 6/6 6/11 6/16 6/21 6/26 6/30

Purple temporarily paused spending during the Black Lives Matter protests in early June

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) mattress brands are everywhere right now, and Purple Mattress is certainly in the game, coming in at #6 so in H1 2020. Similar to trends we see for many D2C brands, Purple has invested heavily in Facebook, seeming to increase their investment in the platform year over year. In fact, compared to the same time period in 2019, Purple has increased its Facebook ad investment by 79%.

Unlike many other advertisers, Purple’s digital investments remained relatively stable during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we didn’t see much of a change in creatives or messaging. The Black Lives Matter protests, however, which occurred at the beginning of June, were a different story. In solidarity with protesters “blacking out” their social media pages during the protests, we see Purple’s investment go down to $0 on June 3.

Other notable spend spikes for purple appear around holidays, where the brand offers discounts and sales to drive business (a strategy we’ve seen from competitors such as Casper Mattress, and others).

What’s most interesting to us though, is the difference in tone between Purple’s website and their Facebook ads. Their website includes an About page complete with illustrations and a bit of humor, and, like every millennial-targeting D2C company, they have a page dedicated to their pet beds, complete with playful dog photos. So one has to ask—why not carry some of this tone and imagery into Facebook ads? Either way, kudos to Purple for breaking through the mattress clutter.

Website

FACEBOOK

The Home Depot#5

The Home Depot is yet another brand that puts most of its proverbial eggs in the Facebook basket, using the platform to reach homeowners and DIY-ers as they browse through news feeds. This is a long-standing strategy for the brand, who has allocated over 70% of their budget to Facebook since January of 2019.

Interestingly, the Home Depot has shown a sharp decrease in spending since February, despite consumers being stuck at home for COVID-19 and, perhaps in some cases, having extra time to allocate to household tasks.

While link posts tend to be the most popular ad format for most top Facebook advertisers, The Home Depot favors carousel posts as a tool to easily show a breadth of products in one ad.


Link Post$15.1 M

CarouselPost$21.1 M

Video Post$3.8 M

Other$36 K 53%

38%

9%

Creative Type Breakdown for The Home Depot

Digital Overview for The Home Depot

Monthly Spend (USD)

$14 M

$10 M

$6 M

$2 M



Mobile Video$169 K

Desktop Video$3.6 M

Facebook$40 M

Twitter$366 K

Instagram$3.6 M


75%

1%

7%

9% 2%7%

Certainly no stranger to social media, Incumbent President Donald Trump has steadily been the highest spender on digital ads, second only to Mike Bloomberg for a short stint at the beginning of 2020.

Donald J. Trump for President#4

While Trump takes to Twitter for conversational commentary, the focus on paid Facebook ads shows a more savvy digital strategy, focused largely on increasing viewership for presentations and rallys, and raising money for the campaign. What’s noticeable is the lack of messaging around COVID-19, even as the US began to see cases spike throughout the country. No mention of the novel virus can be found in his ads, even during the period in March where he appeared on National TV several times to share his taskforce’s findings and national response plan.


Digital Overview for Donald J. Trump for President

Digital Overview for Donald J. Trump for President


$7 M

$5 M

$3 M

$1 M

Desktop Display$142 K

Mobile Display$8 K

Mobile Video$19 K

Desktop Video$5.4 M

Facebook$41.7 M

Twitter$0

Instagram$0

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June88%

12%

As for geo-targeting, the campaign trades typical high spend metros like San Francisco, Washington DC, and others for Atlanta (Georgia), and Orlando (Florida).


3%

3%

3%

6%

4%

4%

3%

2%2%

2%

2%

2%

Geography Breakdown for Donald J. Trump for President

High-spend Metro

Spend by metro

LOW HIGH

Over the first half of 2020, The Census Bureau allocated 61% of their digital budget to Facebook, with most spend concentrated in March and April. The remaining 40% is spread across Twitter, desktop, and mobile. Nine out of the top 10 Facebook creatives are in Spanish, one in Chinese, and one in English.

While the vast majority of Facebook ads are link posts, the Census spent nearly $9 Million on video posts, using creative ways to engage with different audiences in unique ways.

US Census Bureau#3

If you’re anything like us, you may have been somewhat surprised by the high volume of ads put out by the US Census Bureau this past year—and not just in digital. From public transportation, to radio, to television, and yes—even Facebook, the Bureau showed they are no strangers to the power of marketing with a hefty ad campaign to promote participation in the 2020 Census.

Video Post$8.9 M

Link Post$36.6 M

Carousel Post$2.9 M

Status Post$3 M

Other$83 K

71%

6% 6%

17%

Creative Type Breakdown for U.S. Census Bureau

Digital Overview for U.S. Census Bureau

Monthly Spend (USD) $9 M

$7 M

$5 M

$3 M

$1 M



Mobile Video$178 K


Facebook$51.51M

Twitter$5.4 K

Instagram$30 K


61%

21%

2%6% 10%

P&G#2 CPG giant Procter and Gamble (P&G) has long sat atop our top

advertiser lists, and through June of this year, the story remained the same. While the brand (or really, its countless suite of owned entities) allocates only 30% of its digital budget to Facebook, the spend is still high enough to land P&G in the #2 spot, showing the massive amount of dollars this brand funnels into digital.

And yet—things may be shifting for P&G. Leading into July of this year, all signs pointed to increased spend across all platforms, with a huge jump in Facebook spend beginning in April (as many other brands were slowing ads due to COVID-19).

The beginning of July, however, tells a different story. Flying under the radar, Pathmatcis Explorer showed a major pause in all Facebook advertising as July began, even before P&G came out publicly with an announcement to join the growing #stophateforprofit boycotts against Facebook’s policies. As of publication, P&G still has not announced its boycott from the brand. The numbers, however, do not lie. Where does Facebook’s second biggest advertiser go from here? We’ll be watching closely.


Digital Overview for P&G

Monthly Spend (USD)

$35 M

$25 M

$15 M

$5 M



Mobile Video$6.8 M


Facebook$81.7 M

Twitter$6.9 M

Instagram$67.9 M


31%

30%

3%

3%

2%

26%

5%

Average Daily Spend: $5,362,300

$14 M

$1 M

$600 K

$200 K

Daily Spend

6/9 6/14 6/19 6/24 6/29 7/87/4

June - July Facebook Spend for P&G

P&G quietly joined the Facebook boycotts, pausing spending in early July

Digital Overview for Disney

Monthly Spend (USD)

$70 M

$50 M

$30 M

$10 M



Mobile Video$103 K


Facebook$211.8 M

Twitter$10.9 M

Instagram$13.5 M


64%

3%

22%

6% 1%4%

Disney

The top advertiser on Facebook so far this year, Disney’s is a tale of winding down—all the way down, in fact, to $0 on July 1st, as they too joined the Facebook boycotts

#1


Compared to the first half of 2019, Disney had increased its Facebook spend alone by over 2000%—yes, you read that right. The reason (in case you’ve slept through the first half of 2020, which wouldn’t have been the worst idea) is almost entirely due to Disney+, the new streaming service that sent the streaming wars ablaze.

But now, it seems, after surpassing their own forecasts by hitting 50 million subscribers in just 5 months, Disney is ready to make a statement—by pulling spend from Facebook.

And it won’t be the first statement made by the brand this year. Take a look at spending patterns since the beginning of June. First, Disney joined thousands of brands by muting ads to make space for black and melanated voices during the Black Lives Matter protests that raged throughout the first weeks of June. And now, as July begins, we see another pause. We’ll be watching to see where (and if) Disney reallocates their ad dollars.

Average Daily Spend: $121,600

$450 K

$350 K

$250 K

$150 K

$50 K

Daily Spend

June-July Facebook Spend for Disney

6/1 6/7 6/13 6/19 6/25 7/1 7/8

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About Pathmatics

Pathmatics turns the world’s marketing data into actionable insights. As consumption rapidly shifts to digital, media decisions have become complex and opaque. Pathmatics Explorer, the Pathmatics marketing intelligence platform, creates trust and transparency, bringing visibility into the digital ad performance of brands, their competitors, and entire industries across display, social, video, mobile, and native advertising data. Brands and agencies get access to the creative used by all advertisers, spend and impression data, and path from publisher to viewer, empowering them to minimize waste from their budgets, better position their marketing, and predict the next moves of their competitors. Pathmatics data powers Nielsen’s digital ad intelligence offering, Kantar Media’s Facebook intelligence, and is used by agencies like Mindshare, Mediacom and Possible. Founded in 2011, Pathmatics is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and backed by Upfront Ventures, BDMI, and Baroda Ventures.

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facebook-h1 2020 ad report-v2 2020... · twitter $10.9 m instagram $13.5 m jan feb mar apr may june...

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