With more than 1 billion members, LinkedIn has established itself as a vital resource for business-to-business (B2B) marketers trying to connect with decision-makers. To maximize B2B growth, the Dreamdata LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks Report 2025 offers comprehensive data research on LinkedIn advertising trends, performance benchmarks, and best practices.
Dreamdata’s study compiles data from hundreds of B2B businesses to offer important insights into ad budget allocation, return on ad spend (ROAS), customer journey patterns, and conversion monitoring. We’ve included the key lessons learned below to assist you in making data-driven choices regarding your LinkedIn Ads strategy.
The Rising Importance of LinkedIn Ads in B2B Marketing
LinkedIn is becoming a more popular place for B2B marketers to spend their advertising budget. Over the course of 2024, the average budget share for LinkedIn Ads rose from 31% to 39%. When compared to Google’s individual networks, such as Search, Display, and YouTube, LinkedIn now has the highest single ad expenditure.
Lars Grønnegaard, CEO of Dreamdata, highlights that many marketers wonder whether their LinkedIn Ads budget is being allocated effectively. According to him, the report provides clarity on this question, reinforcing LinkedIn’s position as the primary growth driver for B2B marketing. The platform’s strength lies in its direct access to decision-makers and its unmatched ability to target audiences based on firmographic data.
Although Google’s entire network still accounts for 48% of all ad spending, LinkedIn’s expansion shows how effective it is becoming for B2B targeting. This change demonstrates how marketers trust LinkedIn’s firmographic targeting, which enables accurate audience segmentation according to job titles and company traits.
Source: Dreamdata
LinkedIn Ads Performance: ROAS and Cost Benchmarks
LinkedIn Ads seem more costly than other platforms at first sight. Deeper investigation, however, reveals that they provide the best return on ad spend (ROAS). The only significant platform that produces a positive return on investment is LinkedIn Ads, which has a ROAS of 113%. Meta Ads are less successful in producing high-value B2B conversions, while having lower click-through costs. Although high-intent search traffic is captured by Google Search Ads, their overall ROAS is still less than LinkedIn’s. Furthermore, LinkedIn has the lowest cost per company influenced, which further supports its efficacy in account-based marketing (ABM). From the initial contact to a completed transaction, the typical B2B customer journey takes 211 days.
However, the size of the company affects this. Due to their intricate decision-making procedures, larger businesses take 49% longer to convert than smaller ones. With an average turnaround time of 107 days, the MQL to SQL stage is the largest bottleneck, highlighting the importance of lead nurturing.
Source: Dreamdata
LinkedIn’s Role in the Customer Journey
36% of SQLs, 35% of concluded transactions, and 29% of MQLs in Dreamdata’s research are influenced by LinkedIn ads. Up to 53% of SQLs and new business agreements are influenced by LinkedIn for top-performing advertising. Early in the journey, impressions drive brand awareness; on average, it takes 320 days from the first LinkedIn Ad impression to revenue.
Because of its proficiency in early-stage engagement, LinkedIn is an essential channel for generating demand. Retargeting campaigns and Thought Leader Ads are essential for maintaining prospect engagement over the course of the sales cycle. Since successful campaigns necessitate continued engagement after initial lead acquisition, marketing and sales alignment is crucial.
Source: Dreamdata
Optimizing LinkedIn Ad Performance: Best Practices
The CTR of Thought Leader Ads can be up to 2.3 times greater than that of conventional single-image ads, according to LinkedIn research. Because they mimic real information and promote trust and authenticity, these advertisements are successful. Combining Thought Leader Ads with business postings is a solid technique for increasing interaction while preserving brand credibility. Understanding your LinkedIn Ads audience through Campaign Manager Insights is essential for refining targeting and maximizing ad performance. By analyzing audience engagement and behavioral data, marketers can make more informed decisions about budget allocation and content strategy.
Marketers can improve ad performance by sending pipeline and revenue data back to LinkedIn using the LinkedIn Conversions API (CAPI). 75% of Dreamdata’s clients use LinkedIn CAPI for optimization. Companies who employ CAPI report a 20% drop in cost per acquisition (CPA) and a 31% rise in attributed conversions. By integrating LinkedIn CAPI with your CRM, you can be sure that real revenue data will be used to optimize LinkedIn Ads campaigns.
Source: Dreamdata
One common issue with LinkedIn Ads is that most impressions go to a select few companies, leaving others with less exposure. Using engagement to divide up firms is a smart move.
“Placing high-engagement companies into a second, lower-budget campaign and removing them from the original campaign, marketers can shift impressions to underexposed accounts”.
The Future of LinkedIn Ads for B2B Growth
LinkedIn Ads remain a potent tool for business-to-business (B2B) marketers, according to the Dreamdata LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks Report 2025. Even while the platform could seem pricey at first glance, it has the highest return on investment, encourages genuine interaction, and is essential for lengthy sales cycles.
LinkedIn Ads increasing budget share demonstrates how successful they are in B2B marketing. They outperform Google and Meta, producing the highest ROAS (113%). LinkedIn influences important decision-making phases in the lengthy and intricate customer journey. Maximizing ad success requires the use of Thought Leader Ads, LinkedIn CAPI, and careful audience segmentation.
You can also check out the article LinkedIn Benchmarks so that you can gain more insights about LinkedIn Ads performance from a different point of view.The Linked Blog is here to help you or your brand have the best possible LinkedIn presence, so feel free to contact us if you need help! See more about what we can do for you here.
