BRAND
Data & Research March 24, 2026 • Updated: 9 November 2026

Brand awareness
statistics 2026

50+ verified data points on brand awareness and brand building. From long-term ROI and the brand/performance balance to channels, trust, share of search, B2B buying and AI visibility. Every figure links to its source: Kantar, Thinkbox, Binet & Field, Bain, IAB Europe and more. Interpreted by our content marketing agency.

58%

of advertising profit arrives after the first 13 weeks (UK)

Source: Thinkbox Profit Ability 2, 2024

60/40

brand vs activation split where B2C efficiency typically peaks

Source: LinkedIn B2B Institute / Binet & Field, 2019

$13.1tn

combined value of the world's 100 most valuable brands, +22%

Source: Kantar BrandZ, 2026

Statistics overview

In a world of infinite choice, brand awareness is the difference between being found and being forgotten. But how much impact does brand awareness actually have on your revenue? What does brand building deliver compared to performance marketing? And how are brands performing across regions? The fastest-growing brands run integrated programs that combine brand building with growth marketing.

This page compiles 50+ up-to-date statistics on brand awareness and brand building, sourced from research by Kantar, Thinkbox, Les Binet & Peter Field (LinkedIn B2B Institute), the IPA, Bain, IAB Europe, System1, Ahrefs and other leading organizations. Every figure links to the source we opened when checking it. Whether you're building a business case for brand investment, optimizing your marketing mix, or preparing a presentation: this data hub gives you the numbers you need, or get hands-on support from our online marketing agency.

ROI
Section 1

Impact on conversion & revenue

+0.6%

long-term sales per 1% increase in brand awareness (+0.4% short-term)

Nielsen for Google, via Google/WARC, 2025

£4.11

full profit ROI per £1 of advertising, vs £1.87 short-term (UK)

Thinkbox Profit Ability 2, 2024

4 = 20

returns in the first 4 months equal those of the next 20 months

Google/WARC, 2025

up to 50%

of potential returns missed by marketers who look mainly at the short term

Google/WARC, 2025

Full profit ROI per £1 invested (UK, Profit Ability 2)

TV (full ROI)£5.61
All advertising (full ROI)£4.11
Online video (full ROI)£3.86
All advertising (short-term only)£1.87

Source: Thinkbox Profit Ability 2, 2024 (£1.8bn of UK media spend, 141 brands, 14 categories)

  • The 100 most valuable global brands are worth $13.1 trillion in 2026, up 22% in a year and up from $6.9 trillion in 2023 (Kantar BrandZ, 2026)
  • Google is the world's most valuable brand again at $1.5 trillion (+57%), the first time at No. 1 since 2018 (Kantar BrandZ, 2026)
  • Kantar BrandZ is built on 4.6 million consumer interviews covering more than 22,000 brands in 54 markets (Kantar BrandZ, 2026)
  • Domino's saw a 45% increase in overall YouTube ROI after running brand awareness and performance campaigns at the same time (UK & Ireland case) (Google/WARC, 2025)
60/40
Section 2

Brand vs performance marketing

B2C split
60/40

brand building vs activation

60% brand40% activation

Source: LinkedIn B2B Institute / Binet & Field, 2019

B2B split
46/54

brand building vs activation (a guiding principle)

46% brand54% activation

Source: LinkedIn B2B Institute / Binet & Field, 2019

Ipsos MMA, Europe
50-60%

of media budget to brand building is the sweet spot

40-50% performance

Source: Google/WARC, 2025

4%

of B2B marketers measure impact beyond six months

Source: LinkedIn B2B Institute / Binet & Field, 2019

64%

of B2B marketers believe growth comes from loyalty rather than penetration

Source: LinkedIn B2B Institute / Binet & Field, 2019

Annual market share gain at comparable spend (UK TV ads)

Non-dull ad1.26 pts
1.26 pts
Extremely dull ad0.13 pts
0.13 pts

Source: System1, 2024

  • 10% extra share of voice lifts market share by 0.6 points a year for consumer brands and by 0.7 points for B2B brands (LinkedIn B2B Institute / Binet & Field, 2019)
  • Dull advertising would need $189 billion extra in the US and £13.29 billion in the UK to match the effect of non-dull ads (2022 TV spend basis) (System1, 2024)
  • Neutral is the default response: the average TV ad gets 52% neutral responses in the UK and 47% in the US (System1, 2024)
  • Only 30% of B2B marketers believe advertising affects pricing power, and only 50% see reach as a strong predictor of success (LinkedIn B2B Institute / Binet & Field, 2019)
CHANNEL
Section 3

Channels for brand awareness

57%

of consumers worldwide feel positive about advertising

Kantar Media Reactions, 2025

54.7%

of advertising's full payback comes from TV, on 43.6% of spend (UK)

Thinkbox Profit Ability 2, 2024

$394.6bn

global social media ad spend in 2026 (+21.3%)

WARC via Advanced Television, 2026

€35.5bn

social ad spend in Europe in 2025 (+19.2%)

IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark, 2026

Marketers planning to increase spend (worldwide)

TikTok (2026)64%
Influencer and creator content61%
Social commerce ads53%

Source: Kantar Media Reactions, 2025 (21,000+ consumers in 30 markets, 1,000+ marketers)

  • Point-of-sale ads lead consumer rankings; marketers' top 5 ad brands are YouTube, Instagram, Google, Netflix and Spotify (Kantar Media Reactions, 2025)
  • TV delivers 63.0% of profit payback beyond the first week of advertising (UK) (Thinkbox Profit Ability 2, 2024)
  • Video advertising in Europe grew 19.6% to €34.0 billion in 2025 and is now more than half of all display investment; social video was the fastest-growing format (+25.7%) (IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark, 2026)
  • 64% of marketers feel campaigns are well integrated, down from 89% in 2017, while 66% of consumers feel ads are more integrated; only 14% of marketers find ads innovative (Kantar Media Reactions, 2025)
  • 58% of Americans (12+) listened to or watched a podcast in the past month, a record (Edison Research Infinite Dial, 2026)
  • 42% of Dutch people (16-74) listened to podcasts in the last three months, against 28% across the EU (Eurostat, 2024)
Section 4

Brand trust & reputation

5.7x

as often trust a brand: emotionally connected customers (80% vs 14%, US)

Qualtrics XM Institute, 2026

73 vs 7

NPS of customers with high vs low emotion ratings (US)

Qualtrics XM Institute, 2026

71%

trust the brand they are most loyal to

Merkle via Consultancy.eu, 2026

49%

trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations (US)

BrightLocal, 2026

  • 61% of customers say AI advances make it even more important for companies to be trustworthy (Salesforce, 2026)
  • 64% of customers believe companies are reckless with customer data (Salesforce, 2026)
  • 40% of consumers trust AI platforms for business recommendations, 32% do not (US) (BrightLocal, 2026)
B2B
Section 6

B2B brand awareness

5%

of B2B buyers are in market at any given time; 95% are not (a rule of thumb)

B2B Institute via Ehrenberg-Bass, 2021

~90%

of B2B buyers purchase from their Day 1 vendor list

Bain & Company, 2026

50%

of the influence on that choice lies with hidden buyers (procurement, finance, IT)

Bain & Company, 2026

~10

people in the typical B2B buying group

6sense via Agile Brand Guide, 2026

Very large business effects reported per B2B campaign, by primary objective

Fame2.2
Awareness1.6
Other brand goals0.9
Activation goals0.7

Source: LinkedIn B2B Institute / Binet & Field, 2019 (IPA Databank, B2B cases 1998-2018)

GLOBAL
Section 7

Regional brand awareness data

$1.34tn

global ad spend forecast for 2026 (+11.9%)

Source: WARC via Advanced Television, 2026

€131.1bn

digital ad spend in Europe in 2025 (+10.5%)

Source: IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark, 2026

81%

of Dutch people (16-74) use social networks, vs 67% across the EU (2025)

Source: Eurostat, 2025

Digital ad market size 2025 by country

United Kingdom€46.9bn
€46.9bn
Germany€21.6bn
€21.6bn
France€12.7bn
€12.7bn
Spain€6.7bn
€6.7bn
Italy€6.0bn
€6.0bn
Netherlands€4.8bn
€4.8bn

Source: IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark, 2026

2030
Section 8

Brand in the AI era

+285%

brand value growth for ChatGPT, the biggest riser in BrandZ 2026

Kantar BrandZ, 2026

#27

Claude debuts in the global top 100 at $96.6bn brand value

Kantar BrandZ, 2026

0.737

correlation of YouTube mentions with AI brand visibility, the strongest factor

Ahrefs, 2025

72%

of customers want to know if they are talking to an AI agent

Salesforce, 2026

  • 57% of marketers are concerned about GenAI being used to create fake ads, while 70% already use GenAI to work more efficiently (Kantar Media Reactions, 2025)
  • 75% of B2B marketers worry that AI is making audiences more sceptical (CMI/MarketingProfs, 2026)
  • 40% of consumers trust AI platforms for business recommendations (US) (BrightLocal, 2026)
  • Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is becoming a discipline of its own: brands need visibility in AI answers, not only in Google results.
Summary

Key takeaways

1

Brand pays off over time

58% of advertising profit arrives after 13 weeks, and full ROI (£4.11) is more than double the short-term figure (£1.87).

2

60/40 is a guide, not a law

Binet & Field put the B2C optimum around 60/40 and B2B around 46/54; Ipsos MMA advises 50-60% brand.

3

Dull is expensive

A non-dull UK TV ad earns 1.26 points of share gain vs 0.13 for an extremely dull one.

4

Emotion builds trust

Emotionally connected customers trust a brand 5.7x as often and give an NPS of 73 vs 7.

5

B2B buyers decide early

Only about 5% of B2B buyers are in market, and around 90% buy from their Day 1 list.

6

AI rewards known brands

Brand mentions correlate 0.66-0.71 with AI visibility, YouTube mentions 0.737; site size only about 0.19.

Methodology & sources

The statistics on this page come from publicly available research. We checked every figure against the source in November 2026 and link to the page we opened. Figures we could not trace to an original source have been removed. Key sources:

Disclaimer: Figures come from the editions of the cited reports available when we checked them; the year is in each source link. International figures are labelled with their scope. This page is compiled for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or strategic advice.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How much does brand awareness impact conversion rates?

A Nielsen study for Google found that a 1% increase in brand awareness leads to a 0.4% increase in short-term sales and a 0.6% increase in long-term sales. In the UK, advertising returns an average £1.87 profit per £1 in the short term and £4.11 when sustained effects are included, with 58% of the profit arriving after the first 13 weeks. Also see our B2B marketing statistics.

What is the optimal ratio between brand building and performance marketing?

According to Les Binet and Peter Field (IPA Databank, published by the LinkedIn B2B Institute in 2019), B2C efficiency typically peaks at around 60% brand building and 40% activation. In B2B the optimum is around 46% brand and 54% activation, a guiding principle rather than a fixed rule. A Google/WARC analysis based on Ipsos MMA data points to 50-60% for brand building.

Which channel is most effective for building brand awareness?

In the UK Profit Ability 2 study, TV delivers 54.7% of advertising's full payback on 43.6% of spend, with a full ROI of £5.61 per £1; online video returns £3.86. Video advertising in Europe grew 19.6% to €34.0 billion in 2025. Social media is the fastest-growing channel worldwide: $394.6 billion in 2026 (+21.3%). Also see our video marketing statistics.

BRAND
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Ruud ten Have

Compiled by

Ruud ten Have

Ruud is a digital marketer with 10+ years of experience in online advertising and brand strategy. At Searchlab, he combines data-driven marketing with creative brand building to deliver measurable results for businesses.

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