Here’s how publishers are developing and expanding their ecommerce monetization strategies, and how brands and retailers can partner with them to drive purchases in the affiliate channel.

According to performance marketing agency Merkle, client spending was up 67.3% on Sponsored Product ads and 118.3% on Sponsored Brand ads compared with Q1 2019. Tinuiti reported a 47% increase in client spending on Sponsored Brand ads, with Sponsored Product ad spending growing 24%.

Similar to Kenshoo, Merkle reported that mobile’s portion of search ad spending lagged its impression share. Paid search ads run on smartphones and tablets accounted for just 41% of search ad spending in Q3 2019 because performance lagged on mobile phones compared with desktop.

Omnicom Media Group’s Omni system contains a module for estimating reach across linear and CTV platforms, as does Dentsu Aegis Network’s M1 solution, engineered by its Merkle division. The M1 system process starts with defining the consumer target, often sourced from advertiser-supplied first-party data, then modeled to identify other consumers who closely resemble the original customer list.

“[CX] transformation needs to take place to drive brand competitive advantage,” said Craig Dempster, global CEO of performance marketing agency Merkle. He argued that today’s consumers are making their purchasing decisions on three dimensions: product, price, and experience.

Performance ad agency Merkle reported CPCs for Sponsored Product ads were up 11% in Q3 compared with a year earlier, vs. an 18% drop in CPCs for Sponsored Brand ads. And Tinuiti, formerly known as Elite SEM, similarly reported a 10% year-over-year increase in Sponsored Product CPCs among its clients in Q3, but it saw 3% growth in Sponsored Brand CPCs.

Merkle. MMA Global. Morning Consult. Nextdoor. PubMatic. Yelp.

According to a March 2021 Merkle survey of US adult internet users, respondents said that, when brands use their data in advertising, it helps them discover (50%) and find (49%) products or services that interest them. But 44% also said it often feels invasive to them.

Merkle reported that among its clients in North America that had been spending on Amazon for at least a year, Q4 2019 spending on Sponsored Product ads was up 63%. Among US-based clients of Tinuiti, spending on the format was up 30%.

There is somewhat more positive data from Merkle, which reported that 32% of its clients’ total North America Instagram spending in Q1 2021 went toward Stories. But there are also signs of a plateau; for example, Stories’ share in Q4 2020 was 33%.

Performance ad agency Merkle reported that 85% of its clients’ Amazon ad spending went to Sponsored Products in Q3 2019. Their spending on these placements rose by 35% year over year. Performance agency Tinuiti similarly reported that its clients’ spending on Sponsored Product ads was up 30% in Q3. Those clients allocated 88% of their Amazon search budgets to Sponsored Products.

Some formats, such as local inventory ads and Google Map Ads, dropped between 75% and 100% in Q2, and they have still not fully recovered, according to Merkle data published in October. Several factors should lead to a recovery in local search in 2021. First, the mobile search market should be strong. We expect US mobile search ad spending to increase by 22.4% to $44.32 billion.

For comparison, Merkle reported that spending on Amazon’s Sponsored Products ads only grew 0.1% YoY. The bigger picture: Companies like Pacvue and Tinuiti also reported higher growth rates for spending on Sponsored Brand ads (89% and 86%, respectively) compared with Sponsored Product ads (41% and 28%).