Vendor reportDreamdata, 2026

LinkedIn Ads now influence prospects not just in demand generation but throughout the funnel, with influence actually rising at later stages.

Channel validation

Reader Note:: Based on observed session shares for LinkedIn at MQL, SQL, and New Business stages.
Evidence:: Observed behaviour
Vendor interest:: High — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:: Aggregated data from thousands of Dreamdata B2B customers, covering 66+ million sessions and 3.5+ million customer journeys; only companies that agreed to benchmark use were included, and accounts needed minimum spend.

Good for

Comparing yourself against a similar segment, and choosing what to test next.

Not for

Saying that one thing caused another, or predicting what you would get.
The two groups were not split at random — they picked their own side. The difference may have been there before anything was measured.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.

4.4x

How much better an AI search visitor converts compared to an organic search visitor, on average

of Google searches that showed an AI summary ended with a click on a link inside that summary (US, March 2025)

20% of Gen Z and 17% of Millennials discover new brands through influencer endorsements, vs 12% of Gen X and 5% of Boomers

Share of each generation who discover new brands via influencer endorsements
Generation	Share who discover brands through influencers (%)
Gen Z	20%
Millennials	17%
Gen X	12%
Baby Boomers	5%

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Fixing your influencer marketing campaign: How to get into the top 10% of advertisers

11.4%

of shopper sessions in the US involved an AI tool as of June 2026, up 2.3 percentage points from a year earlier

is the short-term ROI index for influencer campaigns in the UK, right on the market average with 4.5% of short-term sales (excluding campaigns that produced no result)

21–26%

of consumers in the US, UK, and Germany report using AI tools to research products online, per Statista's 2026 Global Survey (Jul 2025–Jun 2026).

LinkedIn Ads now influence prospects not just in demand generation but throughout the funnel, with influence actually rising at later stages.

Good for

Not for

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