Amazon.com outspent all other search marketers in the fourth quarter of last year in the U.S., dropping $51 million and dwarfing the rest of the field, according to research covering paid search on Google from Kantar Media’s new syndicated service. The WPP Group company says AT&T was the next-biggest spender, laying out $27 million.

Interestingly, though the fourth quarter is typically characterized by an effort to woo holiday gift shoppers, only a few of the top ten spenders on Google were retailers, Kantar found. Aside from Amazon, Target Department Store spent $25 million, and EBay invested $22 million in search marketing from October through December.

Financial services companies also contributed significantly to search spend in the period. Capital One came in at third place overall, with $26 million in spending. Insurance players were especially well represented, with Progressive ($19MM), Geico ($16.5MM), and State Farm ($16.2MM) all in the top 10 spenders.

The research is part of Kantar Media’s new syndicated research product for search, which it announced today. The company says it will report on companies investing in paid search, how much they spend, what keyword are purchases and the number of clicks keywords receive.

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Stats: Spend Projections

About The Author: Pamela Parker is a contributing editor for Search Engine Land and Executive Features Editor at Marketing Land. She’s a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since 1998, including a stint as managing editor of ClickZ. She’s also worked to help monetize independent publishers’ sites at Federated Media Publishing. She blogs about media and marketing at The River and about cooking, gardening and parenthood at Free Range. She can be found on Twitter as @pamelaparker. See more articles by Pamela Parker

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