By PRNewswire On Dec 14, 2021

First of Its Kind Study By Engagement Labs Examines Digital Versus Social Ad Performance of Ten Leading Consumer Brands

Engagement Labs released the findings of a study on digital advertising compared to social advertising on Facebook. The study, commissioned by G/O Media, showed that digital display ads contribute significantly more than Facebook to both offline and online volume of conversations for marketers. The study went deep into specific marketers in two big spending categories and for every tech and beverage brand in the study the results were clear. The technology and beverage industries were chosen based on their two distinct consumer purchasing mindsets and digital/social advertising spend.

G/O Media specifically sought to understand the role of paid social vs. digital display advertising and ascertain which has the greater ability to drive people to share online and talk offline. The overall project goal was to determine the impact of advertiser investment in digital paid media (display, online video, mobile app, mobile web video) vs paid Facebook advertising in driving offline conversations and online mentions. The analysis was undertaken for ten leading brands, five each in the tech and beverage categories.

The surprising findings found that the contribution from digital advertising to the average tech brand’s offline conversations is 15.8% vs 3.3% for paid social on Facebook. Online, the average tech brand has an 8.3% contribution from digital and 1.9% from paid social. In the beverage category, the average brand has a 9.6% contribution from digital advertising on offline conversation vs 2.4% from paid social. Online, the average beverage brand has an 8.3% contribution from digital and 1.7% from paid social.

The study also found that digital display media is highly effective at both online and offline performance for brands. This means the digital advertising that consumers engage with isn’t siloed to the online space – it also impacts face-to-face and other offline conversations.