2026 Paid Social and Video Media Benchmarks

Feb 19

TL;DR

This is a comprehensive breakdown of paid social advertising benchmarks for 2026 across Meta, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and X. Includes CPM, CPA, ROAS, and engagement rate data segmented by platform, funnel stage, and industry vertical. Use these benchmarks to evaluate your current campaign performance and identify where your spend is underperforming or outperforming market averages.

The State of Paid Social in 2026

Global social media advertising spend is projected to reach $276.7 billion in 2026, according to Statista's Digital Advertising Report. That represents a 12.4% year-over-year increase, driven primarily by growth in short-form video ad formats and social commerce integrations. Meta and TikTok together account for over 60% of D2C brand ad budgets.

However, increased spend means increased competition. The average CPM across all social platforms rose 8–12% year-over-year in 2025, according to Varos's Q4 2025 Benchmark Report. Brands that maintained or improved their ROAS did so primarily through higher creative testing velocity (10–20 new ad variations per week) and smarter funnel architecture, not increased budgets.

Platform-by-Platform Benchmarks

Meta (Facebook & Instagram) Benchmarks 2026

Meta remains the largest paid social platform with 3.07 billion monthly active users across Facebook and Instagram. The introduction of the Andromeda algorithm in late 2024, fully deployed by 2025, fundamentally changed how ads are matched to users — expanding the candidate pool from hundreds to tens of thousands of ads per impression opportunity.

  
      Metric
      Prospecting
      Retargeting
      Blended
    
      CPM
      $10–16
      $6–12
      $8–14
    
      CPC
      $0.80–1.50
      $0.40–0.90
      $0.60–1.20
    
      CPA (purchase)
      $25–45
      $10–20
      $18–35
    
      ROAS
      2–3x
      6–10x
      3–4.5x
    
      CTR
      0.8–1.5%
      1.5–3%
      1–2%

The key shift on Meta in 2026 is that Advantage+ Shopping campaigns with broad targeting consistently outperform manually targeted campaigns by 15–25% in ROAS, according to Meta's own performance data shared at their Q3 2025 Marketing Summit. Creative quality has replaced audience targeting as the primary performance lever.

TikTok Benchmarks 2026

TikTok's 1.5+ billion monthly active users and lowest CPMs of any major platform make it the most cost-efficient acquisition channel for brands targeting Gen Z and Millennial consumers. TikTok Shop integration has transformed the platform from an awareness channel into a full-funnel commerce engine.

Spark Ads — which boost existing organic content as paid ads — deliver 30–50% lower CPAs than standard In-Feed ads because they carry social proof (likes, comments, shares) from their organic performance. UGC-style creative on TikTok outperforms polished brand creative by 2–3x in conversion rate, according to TikTok's Creative Center data.

YouTube Benchmarks 2026

YouTube reaches 2.5 billion monthly active users and delivers the highest ad recall rate of any digital platform at 84%, according to Google's Brand Lift benchmark data. YouTube Shorts has become a significant ad inventory source, competing directly with TikTok and Instagram Reels for short-form video budgets.

Metric	In-Feed Ads	Spark Ads	TikTok Shop
CPM	$4–8	$3–6	$5–10
CPC	$0.30–0.80	$0.20–0.60	$0.40–0.90
CPA (purchase)	$15–30	$10–25	$12–28
ROAS	2–3.5x	2.5–4x	3–5x
Engagement Rate	1.5–3%	3–8%	2–5%

Metric	Shorts Ads	In-Stream (Skippable)	Demand Gen
CPM	$6–12	$12–20	$10–18
CPV	$0.02–0.05	$0.03–0.08	N/A
CPA	$18–35	$25–50	$22–45
View Rate	15–25%	25–35%	20–30%
Brand Lift	5–10%	10–20%	8–15%

LinkedIn Benchmarks 2026

LinkedIn's 1+ billion members make it the dominant B2B advertising platform. While CPMs are the highest of any social platform ($20–45), conversion rates for professional services and B2B products are 2–5x higher than other platforms, making the effective cost per qualified lead competitive.

  
      Metric
      Sponsored Content
      Lead Gen Forms
      Conversation Ads
    
      CPM
      $25–45
      $20–40
      $30–50
    
      CPC
      $4–8
      $3–7
      $5–10
    
      CPL
      $50–120
      $30–80
      $40–100
    
      CTR
      0.4–0.8%
      0.5–1.2%
      0.3–0.6%

LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms reduce CPL by 30–40% compared to driving traffic to an external landing page, because the forms auto-populate with the user's profile data, eliminating friction. According to LinkedIn's 2025 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report, Lead Gen Form conversion rates average 13% versus 2.5% for external landing pages.

Cross-Platform Comparison Summary

  
    
  
      Platform
      Avg CPM
      Avg CPA
      Best For
      Audience Sweet Spot
    

  
      Meta
      $8–14
      $18–35
      D2C scale, broad reach
      25–55 years old
    

      TikTok
      $4–8
      $12–28
      Gen Z/Millennial acquisition
      16–34 years old
    

      YouTube
      $10–18
      $22–45
      Brand consideration, recall
      18–49 years old
    

      LinkedIn
      $20–45
      $40–120
      B2B lead generation
      25–55 professionals
    

      X
      $5–10
      $15–40
      Real-time events, tech
      25–44 years old
    


  

Important note: These benchmarks represent industry averages. Actual performance varies significantly by industry, creative quality, offer strength, landing page experience, and funnel structure. Use these as directional guidance, not absolute targets. The Jonas Agency's average blended ROAS across clients is 3.2x — consistently above industry benchmarks due to our creative testing velocity and funnel optimization approach.

Sources & References

Statista, "Digital Advertising Report 2026" — global social ad spend projection of $276.7B
Varos, "Q4 2025 Paid Social Benchmark Report" — CPM year-over-year increases of 8–12%
Meta, "Q3 2025 Marketing Summit Presentation" — Advantage+ campaigns outperforming manual targeting by 15–25%
Meta, "Platforms Performance Data" (2025) — 3.07B monthly active users
TikTok, "Creative Center Performance Data" (2025) — UGC outperforming brand creative by 2–3x
TikTok, "Platform Statistics" (2026) — 1.5B+ monthly active users
Google/YouTube, "Brand Lift Benchmark Data" (2025) — 84% ad recall rate
Google/YouTube, "Platform Statistics" (2026) — 2.5B monthly active users
LinkedIn, "B2B Marketing Benchmark Report 2025" — Lead Gen Form conversion rates of 13% vs. 2.5% for landing pages
LinkedIn, "Platform Statistics" (2026) — 1B+ members
WordStream, "Social Media Advertising Benchmarks 2025" — CPC and CTR averages across platforms
Hootsuite, "Digital 2026 Global Overview Report" — platform audience demographics and usage patterns

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good CPM for paid social advertising in 2026?

Average CPMs in 2026 vary by platform: TikTok $4–8, X $5–10, Meta $8–14, YouTube $10–18, and LinkedIn $20–45. A "good" CPM depends on your conversion rates and customer lifetime value — a higher CPM can be worthwhile if the platform delivers higher-quality traffic that converts at a better rate.

What is a good ROAS for D2C brands in 2026?

For D2C e-commerce brands, a good blended ROAS (across prospecting and retargeting) is 3–4x. Prospecting campaigns typically achieve 2–3x ROAS, while retargeting campaigns hit 6–10x. For subscription-based D2C products with high lifetime value, even a 1.5–2x initial ROAS can be profitable when factoring in repeat purchases over 12+ months.

Which social media platform has the lowest CPA in 2026?

TikTok currently delivers the lowest average CPA for D2C brands at $12–28, driven by its low CPMs and strong discovery algorithm. However, CPA varies significantly by industry, product price point, and creative quality. Meta remains the most consistent platform for scale.

Cormac Jonas https://thejonasagency.com