Social media is changing fast, and the biggest opportunities aren’t just about where you spend it’s video adoption, creative choices and so much more.
Built off Smartly’s data, this report reveals how engagement and efficiency are shifting across regions and industries, plus creative insights that drive performance across Meta, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, and more.
Inside you’ll discover:
- Where paid social performance is gaining traction
- How creative is driving engagement and efficiency
- Five actions to turn insights into better results
Highlights at a Glance;
Dive Deeper in the Full Report
Paid social performance is shifting, but the strongest opportunities aren't defined by platform choice alone. Smartly's H1 2026 benchmarks show click-through rates (CTR) rising and cost-per-click (CPC) declining year over year across every measured region.
But the headline numbers only tell part of the story. Regional momentum, vertical dynamics, video adoption, and creative choices are moving at different speeds and creating different opportunities for marketers.
Paid Social Benchmarks Show Engagement and Efficiency Improving Together
The H1 2026 paid social benchmarks point to a favorable performance environment: every measured region recorded higher CTR and lower CPC year over year.
APAC led the combined movement, with CTR increasing 33.6% while CPC declined 34.0% YoY. LATAM delivered 28.7% CTR growth and the lowest Q1 2026 median CPC among measured regions at $0.10, while NORAM's CPC declined 29.9%.
The opportunity isn't simply to chase the lowest cost. It's to understand where engagement and efficiency are moving together, and what action that momentum should trigger.
Where Is Paid Social Momentum Growing Fastest?
Current performance and performance momentum tell different stories. In Q1 2026, EMEA recorded the highest regional median CTR at 0.72%. APAC's median CTR was lower at 0.61%, but the region delivered the fastest YoY CTR growth at 33.6%.
That distinction can change how marketers think about paid social strategy. Current benchmarks show where performance stands today; momentum helps reveal where conditions may be changing fastest.
For global advertisers, understanding both can provide a sharper starting point for decisions around testing, localization, creative development, and scale.
Video Advertising Is Growing—But Not at the Same Rate Everywhere
Video continues to gain ground in paid social, but adoption maturity varies significantly by market and industry.
From 2024 to 2026, APAC recorded the largest regional increase in video share at 11%, compared with 7% in EMEA and 2% in LATAM. At the vertical level, the shifts were even more pronounced: video share increased 90% in Financial and 89% in Travel.
The implication isn't simply "more video." Rapidly shifting categories may need scalable production and localization, while mature video markets face a different challenge: making each asset work harder
Which Industries Are Seeing the Strongest Paid Social Performance?
Paid social performance varies widely by industry. CPG posted the highest YoY CTR growth at 50.4%, while eCommerce combined 40.7% CTR growth with a 30.1% decline in CPC. Entertainment also saw engagement and efficiency improve together, with CTR up 31.7% and CPC down 30.5%.
The benchmarks reveal where industries are gaining engagement, improving efficiency, or doing both—helping marketers identify where to scale, test, or optimize.
Creative Choices Are Becoming a Measurable Performance Lever
Creative performance depends on context. Across the benchmark, attributes including color, product versus people focus, and indoor versus outdoor settings produced different results by vertical and platform.
The differences can be substantial. In Technology and Telecom, for example, people-focused creative delivered 34.43% higher CTR on Meta, while product-focused creative delivered 168.71% higher CTR on Snapchat.
The takeaway isn't one universal creative formula. It's the need to make creative attributes measurable and connect what teams learn back to production, media activation, and optimization.
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