DDMA Social Advertising Benchmark 2024: Increased Focus on Awareness Campaigns in Paid Social

The benchmark data can be navigated through an interactive dashboard, accessible exclusively to DDMA members and participating agencies. It offers social advertising specialists detailed statistics and metrics on campaigns across LinkedIn, Meta, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, and Reddit. An open report from the DDMA Social Media Committee further highlights key trends and developments in social advertising, using data from the dashboard.

Key Social Advertising Trends in the Netherlands

The data from the DDMA Social Advertising Benchmark 2024 reveals the following notable trends in social advertising within the Netherlands. These trends are explained in detail in the report.

1. Increased Focus on Awareness and Video Objectives
   Social advertising campaigns are increasingly shifting towards awareness and video objectives, while conversion and traffic & engagement receive less emphasis. In 2023, awareness campaigns accounted for 36.2% of spending, which has now risen to 40.4% in the first half (H1) of 2024. Although the 2024 data only covers the first part of the year, year-over-year comparisons of H1 for 2022, 2023, and 2024 show the same trend.
2. Meta’s Market Share Decline but Stable CPM
   Meta’s market share decreased from 78.0% in 2023 to 67.0% in 2024, with significant growth observed for TikTok among participating advertisers (up from 7.7% to 16.7%). Despite the drop in market share, Meta’s CPM has remained remarkably stable over time.
3. Impact of ‘Summer of Sports’ 2024
   Major international sports events had a noticeable impact across social advertising platforms. There was a clear increase in CPM (and therefore, higher competition) in May and June 2024, whereas these months had seen a decline in CPM in previous years.

Platform highlights

• LinkedIn Repositioning
  LinkedIn has been undergoing a strategic shift with new ad options, resulting in a sharp CPM drop (from €15.63 in 2021 to €12.76 in 2024). This change is also driven by significant user growth, evolving user behavior, and increased competition from other platforms.
• Pinterest’s New Strategy Boosts CTR and CPC
  Pinterest saw an increase in CTR and a decrease in CPC due to a new approach. Since July 2023, Pinterest’s click-through rate has increased notably, while cost per click has dropped, attributed to a rise in registered clicks. This trend has continued through the first quarter of 2024.
• Reddit as an Emerging Platform
  Reddit is gaining traction as an emerging advertising platform. Although its share in the overall social advertising landscape remains low at 0.5%, a year-over-year CPM increase indicates rising competition on the platform.

Dionne van Dijk, Chair of the DDMA Social Media Committee: “We are very proud of the DDMA Social Advertising Benchmark and received positive feedback after last year’s launch. Of course, there’s always room for improvement, and we’ve listened. This edition includes some adjustments: Reddit has been added as an emerging advertising platform, while X (formerly Twitter) is no longer part of the benchmark. Additionally, an industry page and new verticals have been included, making the dashboard even more relevant and intuitive.”

About the DDMA Social Advertising Benchmark
The Social Advertising Benchmark is an independent initiative by DDMA, the largest industry association for marketing and data, and the DDMA Social Media Committee. In this second edition, 290,000 social advertising campaigns were analyzed (compared to 154,000 in the 2023 edition) from January 1, 2021, to June 30, 2024, with a total value of 255 million euros (compared to 140 million euros in the 2023 edition). Data from these campaigns was provided anonymously by 18 participating agencies, including Accenture Song, Adwise, Artefact, Dentsu, Draft Digital, Happy Horizon, iO, KINESSO, Maatwerk Online, Moddit, MondoMarketing, Netprofiler, ODIV, OMD, PHD, SDIM, WeConnect, and WIJ Special Media. Campaign results are specified for LinkedIn, Meta, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, and TikTok.

Nanda Appelman

Market Insights Specialist

Bob Younge

Contentspecialist