Digital wasteland: brands still waste 40% of their ad budgets

Advertisers are blowing at least 40% of their budgets on poorly placed digital ads, Next&Co’s latest quarterly Digital Media Wastage report has revealed.

Over the last quarter (April-June), Next & Co tracked 33 companies — a blend of ASX-listed, multi-national, and SMEs — with digital ad budgets of between $500,000 and $21 million, crunching data from their Prometheus media auditing tool.

They found that retail brands wasted the most digital ad dollars, followed by the finance sector, insurance, and health. Education and real estate brands had the least waste.

Not surprisingly, given its reach, Google eats up the most wasted digital ad spend, with Facebook close behind.

Next&Co Co-founder, John Vlasakakis, said: “As we enter the new financial year, many brands will be taking stock of their advertising budgets, particularly amid ever-increasing economic and inflationary pressures. The latest data shows there is still plenty of room for improvement in terms of how brands are spending their advertising dollars.

Vlasakakis points out that retailers need to get an understanding of the efficacy of their digital ad placement ahead of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas.

“An independent audit of overall planned spend and past spend can reveal insights into where wastage is occurring, how to get better campaign optimisation and results, and how dollars can be best spent. The new financial year will be about businesses working smarter, not harder, particularly as budgets come under pressure, making every ad dollar count in the coming months.”