2026 B2B Benchmark · Finding 04 of 08
Where $57.6M of B2B ad spend went: 37% cold prospecting, 20% retargeting, 21% other lead-gen audiences, 22% traffic and awareness.
Traffic and awareness campaigns took 22 cents of every dollar and bought 4.4 million visits. Lead-generation campaigns took the rest.
153 advertisers, $57.6M of 2025 spend, CRM pipeline for 90 of them
Share of all 2025 B2B ad spend
What to do with it
Do
Write your own four shares next to these before the planning meeting. Most teams cannot say theirs from memory.
Test
Move traffic and awareness campaigns to their own budget line, with a visits target and the deals they influenced.
Do not assume
That the 22% on traffic and awareness bought leads. It bought visits. Judge it on visits and on influenced pipeline.
The numbers
| Where it went | Spend | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Cold prospecting | $21.4M | 37% |
| Traffic and awareness | $12.7M | 22% |
| Other lead-gen audiences | $12.2M | 21% |
| Retargeting | $11.4M | 20% |
153 advertisers, $57.6M of 2025 spend, CRM pipeline for 90 of them. Pipeline is the value of opportunities the CRM credits to an ad-generated lead.