IAB / PWC
Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2025U.S. internet advertising revenues, five-year trends and exclusive format mix. Published April 2026.
Read the research01 / MARKET PULSE
THE BIG PICTURE. IN MOTION.
Follow the money. Explore how the U.S. digital advertising economy has expanded, and where the investment is going.
U.S. INTERNET AD REVENUEUSD BILLIONS
$294.6B / 2025
Source: IAB / PwC, FY2025 report · U.S. revenue, 2021–2025.
AD FORMAT MIXFY 2025
38.8%Search
Exclusive IAB categories. Social and commerce are cross-cutting classifications, not extra slices.
Why it matters. Marketing's economic center of gravity keeps moving. The important question is not just how much the market is growing, but where business attention is shifting.
02 / PAID MEDIA INTELLIGENCE
WHAT DOES ATTENTION COST?
Not all clicks are created equal. Industry, intent, competition and conversion definitions change the economics of paid media.
$5.42
SEARCH COST PER CLICK / REPORTED MEDIAN
Based on a 2026 WordStream/LocaliQ sample of 13,474 U.S. Google and Microsoft search campaigns. A benchmark is a reference point, not a forecast.
6.64%Click-through rate
$5.42Cost per click
8.18%Conversion rate
$66.69Cost per lead
EXPLORE INDUSTRY ECONOMICS2026 U.S. SAMPLE MEDIANS
Showing 8 of 23 industries. Different medians are not mathematically interchangeable.
03 / THE SEARCH SHIFT
THE INTERNET IS REWRITING THE RULES.
AI-generated search summaries are reshaping how we encounter information. Here's one measured signal, with the context that makes it useful.
WITH AI SUMMARY
Share of observed Google search-page visits followed by a click on a traditional search-result link.
8%
WITHOUT AI SUMMARY
Share of observed Google search-page visits followed by a click on a traditional search-result link.
15%
!
Observation is not causation.
These figures describe March 2025 browsing behavior in a 900-person U.S. panel. They do not prove that an AI summary by itself caused the lower click rate, and the two percentages are not a universal forecast for your website.
Source: Pew Research Center, July 2025
05 / THE SCIENCE OF CONVERSION
THE MOST IMPORTANT CLICK IS THE NEXT ONE.
A beautiful website that doesn't help people act is an expensive missed opportunity. Useful benchmarks start a better conversation about conversion.
6.6%
LANDING-PAGE CONVERSION / OBSERVED MEDIAN
Unbounce's cross-industry sample median across more than 41,000 landing pages. Based on research from July 2023 to July 2024; not a universal target for every site, industry or conversion definition.
WEB PERFORMANCE / GOOGLE CORE WEB VITALS GOOD THRESHOLDS
LARGEST CONTENTFUL PAINT
≤ 2.5sLoading experience. The main content needs to appear quickly.
INTERACTION TO NEXT PAINT
≤ 200msResponsiveness. Interactions should feel immediate.
CUMULATIVE LAYOUT SHIFT
≤ 0.1Visual stability. Content should stay put as the page loads.
These are published guidance thresholds, not measured performance results for CGS. Source: Google Search Central
06 / GLOBAL DIGITAL
THE WORLD IS ALWAYS ON.
A wider lens on how billions of identities, devices and internet users shape the digital economy.
GLOBAL SOCIAL MEDIA USER IDENTITIES / OCT 2026
5.81BCONNECTED. EVERYWHERE.
Digital 2027 reports 5.81 billion active social media user identities as of October 2026. User identities are not necessarily unique individuals, and this is not a count of ad-reachable users.
GLOBAL INTERNET USERS
6.15BConnected humans, estimated
Estimated internet users worldwide, October 2026, as compiled by DataReportal and underlying partners.
GLOBAL GENERATIVE AI ACTIVITY
3.24BEstimated active users
DataReportal's GenAI activity estimate. It may not represent unique individuals due to overlapping accounts and platforms.
Source: DataReportal, Digital 2027 Global Overview Report (published October 2026).
07 / INDUSTRY EXPLORER
DIFFERENT BUSINESS. DIFFERENT MATH.
Use verified industry benchmarks as reference points to ask sharper questions about where your own marketing performance stands.
Search CTR—
Cost / Click—
Search CVR—
Cost / Lead—
Source: WordStream/LocaliQ 2026 . These are campaign sample medians, not your business's performance or targets.
THE INSIGHT BEHIND THE NUMBER
Context beats comparison.
Lead value, qualification rules, device mix, local competition, geography and attribution all affect marketing economics. Compare like with like, then use CGS's calculators to explore your own assumptions.
Build your own scenario08 / THE CALCULATOR LAB
STOP GUESSING. START MODELING.
Your numbers. Your scenario. An immediate, transparent model of what's possible, with no signup required.
Marketing Budget Simulator
Model a campaign using your chosen assumptions, not promised performance.
YOUR MODEL / INSTANT RESULTS
Your projected actions
Illustrative model output
TRANSPARENT FORMULA
clicks = spend ÷ CPCScenarios use hypothetical inputs and are not guarantees. Attribution does not demonstrate incrementality.
09 / RESEARCH LIBRARY
NO MAGIC NUMBERS. JUST GOOD SOURCES.
Every finding should stand up to scrutiny. Explore the original research behind the visualizations and models.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Americans' Use of Social Media in 2026Representative survey of 5,511 U.S. adults, surveyed January–June 2026, with platform demographics.
Read the researchWORDSTREAM / LOCALIQ
2026 Search Advertising BenchmarksSample medians for CPC, CTR, conversion rates and lead costs across 23 U.S. industries.
Read the researchDATAREPORTAL
Digital 2027 Global OverviewGlobal internet adoption, active social media user identities and estimated generative AI users. October 2026.
Read the researchPEW RESEARCH CENTER
Search Click Behavior With AI SummariesMarch 2025 observational browser-panel findings. Association, not experimental causation.
Read the researchUNBOUNCE + GOOGLE
Conversion & Core Web VitalsLanding page conversion sample benchmarks and separate official website performance thresholds.
Unbounce benchmarkGoogle standardsData in this visual prototype are static, research-backed snapshots, not live integrations. Dates, geography and methods matter. Calculator outputs are mathematical scenarios, not sourced industry predictions.
10 / WHAT'S NEXT?
THE DATA IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.
Research tells you what's happening. Extraordinary strategy turns that knowledge into momentum. Let's make your next move count.
Explore Creative Group Studios
EVERY AUDIENCE HAS A PATTERN.
Move beyond popularity contests. Explore how platform use changes across age groups and see where audiences actually spend time.
Respondents use multiple platforms, so these bars must not be added together. Survey n=5,511 U.S. adults.
Same platforms.
Different generations.
Source: Pew, Americans' Use of Social Media in 2026 ↗