Singapore – With brands nowadays catering more and more to the trend of digital ads, digital ad spend waste in the April to June quarter is down more than $30m on the first quarter of 2023, but advertisers still continue wasting nearly half of their advertising dollars each quarter, according to data revealed by independent digital media agency Next & Co.
Last quarter, advertisers threw away $77.1m from their ad spend budgets, which represents an average of 40% wastage across total audited media spend, compared to more than $104 million between January and March 2023.
The report found that retail brands were responsible for wasting the most in digital ad expenditure, with a figure of $25.4m. It was followed by finance at $22.3m, insurance at $12.3m and health at $7.7m. Education and real estate brands had the least waste at $5.3m and $3.8m respectively.
Across digital media channels over the last quarter, most digital ad spend was wasted on Google at $33.9m, followed by Facebook at $31m, LinkedIn at $7.7m and Bing at $3.8m.
John Vlasakakis, co-founder at Next&Co, said, “As we enter the new financial year, many brands will be taking stock of their advertising budgets, particularly amid ever-increasing economic and inflationary pressures. The latest data shows there is still plenty of room for improvement in terms of how brands are spending their advertising dollars. As we head into campaign planning for the biggest retail events of the year, with Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, businesses need to get a sound understanding of the efficacy of their digital ad spend, and a better measure of return on investment.”
He added, “An independent audit of overall planned spend and past spend can reveal insights into where wastage is occurring, how to get better campaign optimisation and results, and how dollars can be best spent. The new financial year will be about businesses working smarter, not harder, particularly as budgets come under pressure, making every ad dollar count in the coming months.”
