Global e-retailers reveal how they plan to spend advertising budgets in Q4; Facebook ad spend will continue to trend upward for Q4, while Google Search Keywords and Product Listing Ads will be the top ad types

San Francisco (October 5, 2016) Skai (www.Kenshoo.com), the global leader in agile marketing, in partnership with OrionCKB (https://www.orionckb.com), a direct response marketing agency, today released a new report titled 2016 Holiday Advertising Survey Report. The survey polled top e-commerce and retail advertisers on their ad spend plan to maximize revenue during the upcoming holiday season.

The survey results showed Facebook will command the majority of social media ad budgets for advertisers. Advertisers will dedicate almost half of all marketing budgets to Facebook, with 71% saying that spend will increase from last year.

New ad types also present new opportunities for advertisers, providing increased ad engagement and interaction. “The holiday season is the most competitive time of year to try to stand out in social feeds, so for the 60% of advertisers whose primary goal is direct response, it could be a good strategy to diversify and test all different types of ads – especially video – to see what will get shoppers’ attention,” said Scott Briggs, Co-CEO of OrionCKB. “The true test will come if one type of ad will start to perform best; it’s important to keep some level of agility to capitalize on that and go ‘all in’ to really maximize  spend during the Q4 sprint. The payout is almost always substantial.”

While Facebook will command a larger share of retailer’s social media ad spend, the two most important ad types for holiday marketing programs come from Google. More than 74% of those surveyed said that Search Keyword ads are very important to their holiday marketing programs, while  61% of respondents cited Product Listing Ads (PLAs) as important. Since search is intent-driven it will continue to play an important role in e-commerce and retail holiday programs.

Additionally, the survey shows the importance of omnichannel and omni-ad-type strategies. Chief Strategy Officer at Skai Will Martin-McGill noted “Many sophisticated advertisers focus on customer acquisition strategies that go beyond retargeting. They use lookalikes and pull data from other channels to create new audiences in Facebook.”

Download the 2016 Holiday Advertising Survey Report at to learn more about top brands’ holiday advertising strategies

About OrionCKB
OrionCKB helps e-commerce and lead gen advertisers drive real, profitable growth from their customer acquisition and retention efforts. With an exclusive focus on direct response advertising, OrionCKB provides strategy & optimization that maximize ROI and increases revenue from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, PPC and mobile advertising. Clients include Hallmark, Zipcar, Thumbtack, Publisher’s Clearing House, Bombas, and KiwiCrate. For more information, visit www.orionckb.com.

About Skai
Skai is the global leader in agile marketing. Brands, agencies and developers use the Skai Infinity Suite to direct nearly $350 billion in annualized client sales revenue through social, search, mobile, and display advertising. Skai provides leading native API solutions for ads across Facebook, FBX, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Yahoo Gemini, Yahoo Japan, Bing, Yandex and Baidu. Skai powers digital marketing campaigns in more than 190 countries for nearly half of the Fortune 50 and all 10 top global ad agency networks. Skai clients include Expedia, Facebook, Havas Media, John Lewis, Resolution Media, Sears, Starcom MediaVest Group, Tesco, Travelocity, Walgreens, and Zappos. Skai has 27 international locations and is backed by Sequoia Capital, Arts Alliance, Tenaya Capital, and Bain Capital Ventures. Please visit www.Kenshoo.com for more information.

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