Spurred by a surge of competition and device adoption on mobile and larger, more engagement-driven ad placements, the cost (and effect) of doing business on the Facebook platform continued on trend and posted huge increases this past Q4.

We crunched Facebook advertising numbers over 1B total impressions in Q4 and found the following in comparing performance to Q4 2013:

– A 364% YoY increase in CTR, attributed to a variety of factors including more advanced creative testing and, of course, the mainstream adoption of Custom Audiences.

– an overall 35% YoY increase in CPCs comparing December 2013 to December 2014.

– Within the retail vertical specifically, we’ve seen increases of 392% for CTR; additionally, CPMs have tripled YoY and more than doubled for mobile.

The numbers are staggering and tell a clear story: the market has reacted positively to the changes in regards to user experience; mobile adoption both domestic and internationally has aided growth in engagement; and costs, particularly on mobile and video, will no doubt play a role as we expect these trends to continue.