Let’s see what this week’s numbers say about online advertising, shall we?

• How important is the top result on Google? A new study from Semrush indicates that the top organic result still garners a high click-through rate, though the gap between it and the second result varies by device. The analysis indicates that slightly more than 1 in 5 searches last year led to a click on the top result, with the average click-through rate for this position being almost the same on desktop (22.2%) as on mobile (22.4%).
• Podcast ads’ average conversion rate grew on a year-over-year basis during the first quarter of this year, and lead conversion rates from attributed visitors also climbed, according to the latest quarterly report from Podsights. This is good news for an industry for which advertisers lack confidence in the effectiveness of their spend. The report shows that the average conversion rate for site visitors (measured as visitors ÷ household reach) was 1.21% during Q1.
• The ad market’s year-long decline is continuing. March marked the ninth straight month that ad spending was down, falling 8.4%, per a Tinuiti study. The US Standard Media Ad Index showed the trend continuing into April, with a year-over-year decline of 1.4%. Ad spend growth has contracted considerably as the pandemic boom cooled. Social media companies posted significantly lower ad revenues, longtime advertisers slashed marketing teams and budgets, and interest rates forced companies to hold their wallets close. But according to eMarketer, the reality is that there’s still growth: We expect worldwide media ad spending to rise 5.8% this year. But that doesn’t mean that the concerns about shrinking budgets and a declining ad market aren’t valid. 75% of content marketing officers say their budgets are too small to accomplish their goals.