63% of marketers say they need more unique, human-made content to stand out

Content formats

63%

of marketers say they need more unique, human-centred content to cut through

Reader Note:: Self-reported. This is a statement of felt need, not a measured result - the report does not test whether human-made content actually performed better, and it does not define what counts as human-centred. HubSpot sells tools on both sides of this question, which is worth holding in mind.
Evidence:: Self-reported behaviour
Vendor interest:: Moderate — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:: HubSpot surveyed 1,505 marketers in September 2025 across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, spanning seniority levels and industries; fieldwork run in collaboration with the research firm Datalily. The report does not disclose how the sample splits by region, industry or seniority, so every published figure is a single global average. It does report cuts by company size - small business, mid-market and enterprise.

Good for

A rough sense of size and direction, and deciding what to look at first.

Exact numbers, or saying that one thing caused another.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
This is an aggregated or average number that covers very different cases. Real results in a particular segment may differ.
The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.

Instagram users respond first to brand’s short videos, then creator-style content

Share of social users most likely to interact with each brand content type on Instagram
Content type	Share of users likely to interact (%)
Short-form video (<60 seconds)	52%
User-generated content	25%
Influencer content	23%
Live video	22%
Static images / Long-form video	19%

Short videos dominate brand engagement on TikTok

Share of social users most likely to interact with brand content types on TikTok
Content type	Share of social users likely to interact (%)
Short-form video (<60 seconds)	60%
Long-form video	32%
User-generated content	30%
Influencer content	28%
GIFs / memes	15%

Interactive Instagram content did the most to build brand trust

Our Substack turns the data behind these cards into full breakdowns: what changed, why, and what to do about it.

Instagram carousels reach 142% more people than single-image posts and get 819% more saves

34%

of consumers are most likely to interact with Shoppable Pins on Pinterest

Personalized recommendations were the strongest predictor of luxury purchase intention on Instagram