Facebook Average CPM Rates Increase by 41 Percent

Facebook's average CPM has increased by 41 percent since Q1 2011 according to the latest Global Facebook Advertising Report from TBG Digital.

The study, which was based on 372 billion impressions in over 190 countries for 235 clients from Q1 2011 to Q1 2012, indicates Facebook is earning more from Marketplace ads. Specifically, average CPM has increased by 15 percent in the last quarter with the US seeing an increase of 11 percent and the UK seeing an increase of 13 percent during the same period.

TBG also sees an increase in click through rates for news clients. With the rise of Facebook social readers from Yahoo! News, The Washington Post, The Guardian and others, TBG has seen a strong uplift in CTR for those in the news sector since Q4 2011 with an increase of 196 percent.

Additional findings from the report include the following:

- Facebook Cost per Click (CPC) has increased by 23 percent in the top five
territories versus Q4 2011 indicating that while growth in new users may be slowing, the social network is becoming more attractive to advertisers.

- The US experienced a reduction in average CTR of 8 percent in this quarter with the
top five territories seeing an average decrease of 6 percent which could be attributed to an increase in the number of ads being placed on users' pages.

- The Retail sector has taken the lead on number of impressions served increasing its share by 10 percentage points to make up 23% of all impressions in Q1.

- The Finance sector leads with the most expensive advertising costs, with 3.5 times higher CPCs than the Food & Drink sector which has the lowest ad costs.

- Top 5 sectors continue to dominate comprising 78 percent of impressions served of the 18 sectors measured

- Cost Per Fan Costs Increase by 43 percent over all territories

- On average, Cost per Fan increased 43 percent in Q1 2012, compared to Q4 2011. The UK saw the greatest jump with 77 [ercent followed by the US with 37 percent.