- Title
- Seasonal Differences in the Cost and Engagement of Facebook Advertisements for a Physical Activity Smartphone App
- Creator
- Northcott, Celine; Curtis, Rachel; Bogomolova, Svetlana; Olds, Timothy; Vandelanotte, Corneel; Plotnikoff, Ronald; Maher, Carol
- Relation
- NHMRC.1080186 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1080186
- Relation
- American Journal of Health Promotion Vol. 35, Issue 6, p. 803-808
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0890117121997304
- Publisher
- Sage Publications
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2021
- Description
- 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.
- Subject
- facebook advertising; online social networks; physical activity; season; new year; easter; summer
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1434415
- Identifier
- uon:39439
- Identifier
- ISSN:0890-1171
- Language
- eng
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