LinkedIn Ads benchmarks for B2B in 2026
Dreamdata's 2026 LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks Report found LinkedIn returned 121% ROAS for its B2B customers, ahead of Google Search at 67% and Meta at 51%, with a contact-level CPC of €5.98 against €1.60 on Meta. LinkedIn took 41% of B2B ad budgets in the dataset.
The catch is time: on average 281 days pass from a first LinkedIn ad impression to revenue, so short attribution windows undervalue it.
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Key benchmarks
| Metric | Value | Context | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ROAS, all customers | LinkedIn 121%, Google Search 67%, Meta 51% | Dreamdata 2026 report | [1] Dreamdata |
| ROAS, top performers | LinkedIn 279%, Google Search 138%, Meta 133% | Dreamdata 2026 report | [1] Dreamdata |
| Contact-level CPC | LinkedIn €5.98, Meta €1.60 | Google Search not stated | [1] Dreamdata |
| Cost per company influenced | LinkedIn €70.11, Google Search €110.37, Meta €128.70 | LinkedIn down from €154 a year earlier | [1] Dreamdata |
| Share of B2B ad budgets on LinkedIn | 41% | Dreamdata customers | [1] Dreamdata |
| Sessions with LinkedIn Ads influence, by stage | MQL 24.2%, SQL 30.2%, new business 28.3% | Dreamdata customers | [1] Dreamdata |
| Time to revenue | 281 days from first impression, 214 from first ad conversion | Averages | [1] Dreamdata |
| Closed deals with a company page impression | 17.9% | Organic LinkedIn influence | [1] Dreamdata |
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How we read these numbers
High ROAS for LinkedIn in a multi-touch dataset does not mean every LinkedIn campaign pays back. It means LinkedIn is present in a large share of journeys that end in revenue, which is exactly what you would expect from the channel that reaches buying committees by role and account.
In our programs, the gap between a LinkedIn account that pays back and one that does not comes from three things: exclusions (customers, open deals, competitors, irrelevant functions and junior roles), a fixed testing order for audiences and offers, and lead gen forms connected to the CRM so leads are routed and measured. Without the CRM connection, you cannot see the 214 to 281 day path at all.
Three moves for this quarter
Extend attribution windows
Report LinkedIn influence on opportunities over at least the length of your sales cycle, not a 30-day window.
Report cost per account influenced
Add it next to cost per lead for ABM and enterprise campaigns.
Connect lead gen forms and the Conversions API
Send qualified pipeline events back to LinkedIn so optimization follows deals.
Related service LinkedIn Ads
Where these figures matter LinkedIn Ads for enterprise SaaS · LinkedIn Ads for cybersecurity · LinkedIn Ads agency in New York · LinkedIn Ads agency in Boston · How much LinkedIn advertising costs for B2B
More benchmarks B2B buying journey benchmarks · Google Ads benchmarks for B2B · AI search benchmarks for B2B · Landing page conversion benchmarks for B2B
LinkedIn Ads benchmarks for B2B: answers
What is a good LinkedIn Ads ROAS for B2B?
Dreamdata's 2026 LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks Report found 121% ROAS for LinkedIn across its B2B customers, against 67% for Google Search and 51% for Meta. Top performers reached 279% on LinkedIn.
What is the average LinkedIn Ads CPC for B2B?
Dreamdata reports a contact-level CPC of €5.98 on LinkedIn against €1.60 on Meta. Its cost per company influenced was €70.11 on LinkedIn, €110.37 on Google Search and €128.70 on Meta.
How long does LinkedIn Ads take to produce revenue?
On average 281 days from first impression and 214 days from first ad conversion, according to Dreamdata. Attribution windows shorter than your sales cycle undervalue LinkedIn.
How much of B2B ad budget goes to LinkedIn?
41% of B2B ad budgets in Dreamdata's dataset, which mostly reflects B2B SaaS companies.
Caveats
- Dreamdata is an attribution vendor and the data reflects its customers, mostly B2B SaaS. Figures are in euros.
- The announcement labels the prior-year ROAS of 113% inconsistently and describes the top-performer group unclearly.
- Reported Conversions API benefits are presented by the vendor, not measured in the report sample.
Sources
- Dreamdata: The 2026 LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks Report (announcement) (vendor research). Aggregated Dreamdata customer data: 66M+ sessions and 3.5M+ customer journeys. Figures in euros.
Figures checked against the linked sources on 2026-11-07. PlanConversion did not produce this research.
