According to Next&Co’s quarterly Digital Media Wastage report, advertisers have wasted a record $123 million in digital advertising in the second quarter of 2024 – one of the highest quarterly amounts ever recorded.

The figure is up $25 million from last quarter’s ad wastage data, and nearly $50 million from the same time last year.

“It’s astounding that, given the national cost-of-living crisis impacting consumer spending and shrinking advertising budgets nationwide, digital advertising spend wastage has peaked in the last few months,”said Next&Co Co-Founder, John Vlasakakis.

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“The digital ad spend waste trend line is definitely moving in the wrong direction and this is concerning.

The Q2 data, released by Next&Co today, shows wasted digital advertising spend totaled $123.1 million between April and June this year, representing an average of 44% across total audited digital media spend. The latest ad wastage figure is one of the highest quarterly amounts recorded since the report’s inception, with quarterly ad wastage usually sitting between $70 million to $110 million.

The data, compiled from Next&Co’s Prometheus media auditing tool, represents the millions of advertising dollars that failed to further digital advertising objectives across a range of verticals, including real estate, retail, insurance, finance and FMCG, the company said.

In the second quarter of 2024, 37 companies with digital ad budgets of between $500,000 and $21 million were audited, including multinational (42%), national (357), ASX-listed (11%), and SME (10%) companies.

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Retail brands continue to top ad spend wastage

For the consecutive second quarter, the retail sector recorded the highest amount of wasted digital ad dollars once again at $48 million. Despite an overall decline in retail spending nationally, retail brands are wasting more advertising dollars than ever – the latest figure is up $20 million on the first quarter data, and more than $8 million on the same period last year.

The finance sector recorded the next highest ad wastage figure at $32 million, followed by real estate ($16 million), insurance ($11 million), health ($8.6 million) and education ($7.3 million)

Google tops digital media channel waste list

For the first time in 2024, Google has topped the digital media channel waste list among media channels. In Q2, $55.4 million was wasted on Google advertising – up nearly $20 million on the previous quarter.

Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms came in a close second at $52.9 million, which was also up nearly $3 million on Q1, and nearly $7 million on the same period last year.

Additionally, $8.6 million was wasted on Bing and $6.1 million on LinkedIn.

“Now more than ever, brands need to look closely at their ad performance and really understand their wastage levels,” said Vlasakakis.

“There is no room for wasted advertising dollars – brands must ensure every dollar they are spending is delivering results. In this economic climate, understanding the exact ROI on your advertising spend could be the difference in maintaining client confidence and short and long-term success.”