Vendor reportLocaliQ, 2026

Low click-through rates do not mean display ads failed

Performance measurement

Reader Note:: This is the report's own interpretation of its benchmark data rather than a measured comparison of later conversions against click-through rate. The sentence is specifically about video ads on the USA TODAY Network and says viewers may return later after seeing the ad, but the report does not provide a quantified view-through conversion analysis here. The report also says it omitted direct conversion rate because display ads 'impact conversion rates indirectly.'
Evidence:: Expert judgment
Vendor interest:: High — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:: Two datasets: 7,074 LocaliQ customer display advertising campaigns from April 2025 to June 2026, plus 55,798 location-based display advertising campaigns on the USA TODAY Network from July 2025 to June 2026.

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Hearing how someone who knows the field reads it, and deciding what to check yourself.

Not for

Anything that needs a measurement. Nobody counted or tested this.
This was measured in one market. It may not hold where you are.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.

Platform engagement and real effectiveness only line up in about one out of three creator ads, so most engaging content isn’t what will grow your brand

Most marketers are making or planning changes to performance measurement for the AI web, mainly tracking brand visibility and citations in AI tools

AI's impact on planning and measurement approaches: current/planned changes to performance measurement for the AI web
Change	Share of respondents (%)
Measuring brand visibility/citations in AI tools	48%
Using branded search/direct traffic as proxies	44%
Using 3P AI-driven discovery analysis tools	40%
Monitoring AI platform interactions/referrals	31%
Increasing use of incrementality tests	30%
Using modeled measurement (probabilistic)	30%
Refining fraud detection for legitimate agents	28%
Placing less weight on website traffic	26%
Establishing direct AI-platform partnerships	23%
Using consumer surveys or self-reported data	21%

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Buyers often use Google Search or visit a cited website directly after seeing a brand mentioned in an AI answer

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

151

is the long-term ROI index for influencer campaigns in the UK, contributing 6.2% of total sales (excluding campaigns that produced no result)

Marketers are much more likely to track engagement rate than efficiency metrics, with engagement monitored by 91% but EMV per working spend tracked by only 9%

Share of marketers tracking each influencer campaign KPI (%)
KPI	Tracked by (%)
Engagement rate (likes, comments, shares) — How many people interacted	91%
Impressions / reach (How many people saw it)	84%
Click-through rate (How many people clicked)	78%
Sales / revenue attribution (Whether people bought)	72%
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) — What each customer cost	72%

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71% of marketers say proving ROI is their biggest influencer challenge

Top challenges marketers face with influencer marketing (% citing each)
Challenge	Share of marketers citing this challenge (%)
Determining the ROI	71%
The time it takes to run programs	50%
Content quality	48%
Selecting the right creators	46%
Working with less budget	46%
Consistency in influencer rates	35%
Scaling my influencer program	35%
Internal hurdles (leadership support, legal and regulatory)	25%
Brand safety	10%
Choosing the right agencies	8%

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Low click-through rates do not mean display ads failed

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