Last updated June 2023
Last quarter the average Display Ads CTR was 0.27% (averaging across all countries, platforms, and industries) according to our research.
Drill down on our Display Ads CTR Benchmarks to check the performance of your campaigns against thousands of others.
Compare your recent CTR changes to trends that are relevant to you, and find out if your performance is possibly being affected by something other than your own work.
Display Ads CTR Benchmark Tool
Use the drop-downs to filter results so that you can compare your results to those similar to you.
When using the drop-downs:
- Filter results by Country and Industry. When you leave filters to the default “All” position, the benchmark will include results from people who did not specify anything for that field (eg “All Industries” will include all the industries listed in the drop-down, as well as data from where the industry field was left blank).
- Choose a single option by clicking the “Only” button next to any choice.
- Select multiple options at once. Untick the “All” tickbox then tick the box by each option you would like to see included in the data.
- Reset all filters. Tick the top tickbox by clicking the “All …” tickbox.
- To close a filter drop-down menu. Click elsewhere within the benchmark tool.
Notes:
- Compare your results to the benchmark by using the CTR calculator in the left-hand column (desktop only).
- As the above figures are self-reported we use multiple filters and levels of analysis to ensure the data is useful.
- More options to break down the benchmark further (including by more countries) are coming as we gather more data.
- We only show data with enough data points to make it useful. If you filter results it may make other filters unavailable.
- The current quarter only contains data up to the end of last month.
- If you notice this benchmark has stopped working, please let us know.
How should I use this benchmark?
The best use of this benchmark is as context for your results - if your CTR is following a general trend for display ads then that is useful to know.
For example, if your CTR goes down suddenly one month and you see that this is repeated elsewhere, then perhaps it was not your campaign tanking but instead an industry-wide issue out of your control.
Similarly, if your CTR is suddenly really good one month (but so is everyone else's) then perhaps you are not a display advertising genius after all! (You still might be though).
Context can be really illuminating, and adding benchmarks to reporting and forecasting can be very helpful.
How do I compare my results to these benchmarks?
If you want to compare your results directly to the above benchmark, here is a simple guide to help you. If your results are...
- above the Top 25% figure, you should be very pleased
- above the Average CTR figure, you should be slightly pleased
- below the Average CTR figure, you should be slightly disappointed
- below the Bottom 25% figure, you should be very disappointed
Most results occur between the top 25% and bottom 25%, so if you are somewhere in the middle you are more or less doing ok.
Again, please note that the best benchmark is always your past performance. If you performed better compared to the same time last year then that is important. This benchmark is more useful for context than a direct comparison.
What do percentiles mean?
We included the 25th percentile (bottom 25%) and the 75th percentile (top 25%).
These work by putting all the CTRs in order from smallest to largest, then choosing the numbers that are 25% from the bottom and 25% from the top.
We include these top and bottom 25% markers for a few reasons:
- Most results occur between these top and bottom markers. If you are within this range, your campaigns are performing more or less as expected.
- If you are performing below average then it is useful to know how far below it you can be before you should be concerned.
- If you are performing above average then it is useful to know how much you should be celebrating.
- If you are particularly good (or bad) at Display Advertising, then comparing yourself to the average probably isn't that helpful. By providing these extra sets of data, you can compare your results to benchmarks more relevant to yourself.
How is CTR calculated for Display Ads?
The Click-Through Rate for Display Ads is calculated by dividing the number of clicks an ad received by the number of ad impressions it had.
In other words - what percentage of people clicked on an ad after seeing it?
The CTR equation is:
Click to enlargeCTR = (Clicks ÷ Impressions) x 100
CTR is a simple way to measure how interesting something is. It is by no means foolproof though and a strong case can be made that display ads are more useful for branding than performance (meaning seeing them is useful too).
For most display ads, CTR is also the engagement rate as there is no other way to engage with most display ads except by clicking on them.
Please note: CTR measures click-throughs, not clicks. This means that only clicks that take someone through to another webpage are counted - not clicks on pause buttons or mute buttons etc.
Find out more
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