• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, July 25, 2023

Ad spending grew across many major digital platforms that the independent ad agency Tinuiti supports, including Amazon, Meta, Google and Walmart.

Tinuiti’s latest Digital Ads Benchmark Report shows that Temu, a fashion brand, became a major player in the Google Shopping space during the first half of the year, and is now competing against 82% of U.S. shopping advertisers -- a higher share than Walmart, and just about on par with eBay, according to Tinuiti.

The Tinuiti Digital Ads Benchmark Report is based on anonymized performance data from advertising programs under Tinuiti management, with annual digital ad spend under management totaling over $3 billion.

Temu was one of the biggest surprises for the quarter. “It’s pretty shocking to see a new play -- one that many are not aware of -- rise to become a bigger advertiser in the space than Walmart, in terms of the companies we support,” says Andy Taylor, vice president of research at Tinuiti.

YouTube ad-impression growth remained strong at 34% year-over-year (YoY), while the average CPM fell 18%.

YouTube spending on connected TVs (CTVs) rose 31% YoY, but desktop spending fell. The share of spend rose from 22% to 26% between second-quarter 2022 and second-quarter 2023.

Mobile spend share rose two points to 53% in Q2 2023, while tablet share held steady at 7%. Desktop YouTube spend fell 27% YoY in Q2 2023, with desktop share of YouTube spending declining from 20% to 14% during that period.

Google Performance Max adoption hit 86% among ecommerce advertisers in Q2, as the number of brands using this AI-powered campaign type continues to grow. The company does not require advertisers to adopt the platform.

“Smart shopping campaigns, Performance Max’s predecessor, maxed out at about three-quarters of Tinuiti’s advertisers,” he said.

Performance Max taps into inventory across a wide array of surfaces and platforms, but continues to primarily display ads in Google Shopping, with only 18% of spend attributed in Q2 to non-Shopping properties such as YouTube and other display placements.

“About 39% of impressions still come from Google owned-and-operated properties, even excluding Google Search,” he said. “And about 16% to mobile apps and 45% to non-Google web pages.”

The report also reveals some key findings, including that Reels ads now account for 11% of Instagram ad impressions. 

Reels overlay ads were only just introduced to Instagram in Q2 2023, but provide a massive opportunity for new ad impressions, as the format already accounts for 6% of Facebook ad impressions.

Advertisers grew investment in Meta properties 9% year-over-year in Q2 -- the strongest quarter since Q1 2022. Advantage+ shopping campaigns continue to perform well for advertisers, helping to spur on increased spend.

Walmart Sponsored Products spend rose 39% year-over-year in Q2, as ad pricing declined just 4% in the second quarter compared to a 41% decline in Q1. 

During the last year, advertisers benefited from Walmart’s June 2022 shift to a second-price auction, which reduced the amount paid for advertising clicks from the full amount bid to just enough to beat out the bid of the next advertiser in ad auctions.

In second-quarter 2023, Netflix CPMs were nearly three times as high as the rest of the traditional (non-RTB purchased) streaming ad industry -- a level roughly in line with Max ads. 

Netflix managed to achieve higher CPMs since the introduction of its ad-supported model in November 2022.