TY - JOUR
T1 - Seasonal Differences in the Cost and Engagement of Facebook Advertisements for a Physical Activity Smartphone App
AU - Northcott, Celine
AU - Curtis, Rachel
AU - Bogomolova, Svetlana
AU - Olds, Timothy
AU - Vandelanotte, Corneel
AU - Plotnikoff, Ronald
AU - Maher, Carol
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council [Grant No. 1080186]. CM is supported by a Career Development Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council [APP1125913].
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - Purpose: To evaluate the performance of Facebook advertisements for a physical activity smartphone app at different times of the year. Design: A repeated cross-sectional study examined the cost and engagement levels of advertisements during 3 time points: Post-Easter April-May 2019, Pre-Summer October 2019, and New Year January 2020. Setting: Advertisements were delivered on Facebook. Subjects: The target population was Australian females aged 25-60 years. Measures: Cost was evaluated in terms of reach per dollar. Engagement was evaluated in terms of click-through and app downloads per reach. Analysis: ANOVA and Chi-square were used to assess differences in reach per dollar, click-through, and app downloads per reach between time points. Results: Reach per dollar was highest in Post-Easter, but declined in Pre-Summer and New Year (reach/$ 34.8 vs 31.5 vs 27.5; p =.004). Click-through was highest in New Year followed by Post-Easter, then Pre-Summer (click-through 3.2% vs 1.9% vs 1.2%; p <.001). New Year and Post-Easter advertisements achieved higher app downloads per reach than Pre-Summer (downloads 0.9% vs 0.7% vs 0.3%; p <.001). Conclusion: Facebook advertisements were cheaper in the first time-point, and appear to be getting more expensive (i.e. declining reach/$). Advertisements in the New Year achieved the highest click-through and app downloads per reach, suggesting a useful time of year to promote physical activity products.
AB - Purpose: To evaluate the performance of Facebook advertisements for a physical activity smartphone app at different times of the year. Design: A repeated cross-sectional study examined the cost and engagement levels of advertisements during 3 time points: Post-Easter April-May 2019, Pre-Summer October 2019, and New Year January 2020. Setting: Advertisements were delivered on Facebook. Subjects: The target population was Australian females aged 25-60 years. Measures: Cost was evaluated in terms of reach per dollar. Engagement was evaluated in terms of click-through and app downloads per reach. Analysis: ANOVA and Chi-square were used to assess differences in reach per dollar, click-through, and app downloads per reach between time points. Results: Reach per dollar was highest in Post-Easter, but declined in Pre-Summer and New Year (reach/$ 34.8 vs 31.5 vs 27.5; p =.004). Click-through was highest in New Year followed by Post-Easter, then Pre-Summer (click-through 3.2% vs 1.9% vs 1.2%; p <.001). New Year and Post-Easter advertisements achieved higher app downloads per reach than Pre-Summer (downloads 0.9% vs 0.7% vs 0.3%; p <.001). Conclusion: Facebook advertisements were cheaper in the first time-point, and appear to be getting more expensive (i.e. declining reach/$). Advertisements in the New Year achieved the highest click-through and app downloads per reach, suggesting a useful time of year to promote physical activity products.
KW - Easter
KW - Facebook advertising
KW - New Year
KW - online social networks
KW - physical activity
KW - season
KW - summer
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101930347&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0890117121997304
DO - 10.1177/0890117121997304
M3 - Article
C2 - 33641453
AN - SCOPUS:85101930347
SN - 0890-1171
VL - 35
SP - 803
EP - 808
JO - American Journal of Health Promotion
JF - American Journal of Health Promotion
IS - 6
ER -