Seven cuts of LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks 2026, one per audience, each with the expected case and ranges, by format, seniority, company size, the UK and the US, who actually sees the ads, and frequency. This page is the comparison; each row links to the full cut.
Every audience side by side
| Audience targeted | Accounts | CPM | Landing page CTR | Cost per landing page click | Form completion | Cost per lead | Median audience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HR | 113 | $36.67 | 0.26% | $16.86 | 8.2% | $205 | 78,000 |
| IT and engineering | 227 | $38.91 | 0.26% | $19.81 | 5.7% | $337 | 43,000 |
| Finance | 162 | $38.47 | 0.27% | $17.15 | 4.9% | $340 | 50,000 |
| Marketing | 181 | $41.52 | 0.25% | $20.93 | 9.1% | $257 | 26,000 |
| Sales | 279 | $33.65 | 0.27% | $14.68 | 6.8% | $224 | 44,000 |
| C-suite and founders | 207 | $47.45 | 0.29% | $15.73 | 9.5% | $209 | 66,000 |
| SMB only (1 to 200) | 134 | $39.03 | 0.35% | $12.57 | 12.7% | $125 | 69,000 |
| Mid-market only (201 to 5,000) | 37 | $52.70 | 0.23% | $18.38 | 8.9% | $235 | 40,000 |
| Enterprise only (5,001+) | 26 | $84.84 | 0.24% | $38.90 | 7.0% | $281 | 46,000 |
| Whole panel | 944 | $36.23 | 0.23% | $17.54 | 7.6% (feed) | $164 content · $343 demo | — |
⬇ Download this table as CSV · Every audience side by side
Median account, feed formats on every objective except lead generation for CPM and click metrics; lead gen form metrics on the lead generation objective. Function cuts include any campaign whose job-function targeting includes the function; the company size cuts include only campaigns targeting a single band; the C-suite cut includes campaigns targeting CXO or owner seniority without managers or ICs.
Six things the table says
- Function moves the impression by a quarter; company size moves it by more than double. Sales to marketing is $34 to $42 per thousand. SMB to enterprise is $39 to $85.
- The dear impression is not the dear visit. Executives cost the most per thousand and among the least per landing page click, because they click through at 0.29%. Marketers cost the most per visit because they react instead of clicking.
- The dear lead is IT and finance ($337 and $340), because the ask is a demo or a trial in the feed. Both fall by a third to two thirds on a document ad ($248 and $119).
- Seniority filters cost more per impression and rarely more per click. Director-and-above raises the CPM 22 to 47% in every function cut and buys the same landing page CTR. It lowers the cost per lead only where the senior person is the one who fills in forms: marketing ($205 against $304) and sales ($142 against $319).
- Two thirds of impressions land one level below the target. On CXO-targeted campaigns, directors and VPs take 24M impressions against 4.5M for CXOs and owners. Every cut's delivered-side table shows the same drift.
- Documents convert every audience. Form completion on a document ad runs 12.5% (IT) to 30.0% (executives) against 3 to 7% on a single image with a form. It is the one finding that holds in all seven cuts.
The seven cuts
- HR audiences: 113 accounts. $36.67 CPM, $16.86 per landing page click, $205 per lead, $123 on a document ad; director-only targeting +47% CPM for the same click.
- IT and engineering: 273 accounts. $38.91 CPM, $19.81 per click, $337 per lead; the US at $66 CPM against the UK at $43; mid-market IT the cheapest click at $11.84.
- Finance: 188 accounts. $38.47 CPM, $17.15 per click, $340 per lead, $119 on a document ad (the largest document premium); the widest CPM range of any function.
- Marketing: 215 accounts. $41.52 CPM (the dearest function), $20.93 per click, $257 per lead at the best feed completion (9.1%); the UK at $58 CPM.
- Sales: 338 accounts. $33.65 CPM (the cheapest function), $14.68 per click (the cheapest click), $224 per lead; director-plus produces a $142 lead.
- C-suite and founders: 251 accounts. $47.45 CPM, $15.73 per click, $209 per lead, 30.0% document-ad completion; two thirds of impressions reach directors and VPs.
- By company size: SMB-only $39 CPM and $125 leads; mid-market $53 and $235; enterprise $85 CPM, $38.90 per click, $281 leads.
Method
All cuts: campaigns with delivery between 8 September 2025 and 7 September 2026, at least $50 of spend and 2,000 impressions, LinkedIn Audience Network campaigns excluded, 14 currencies converted to USD at September 2026 rates; the median advertiser account, never a pooled total; no cell under seven accounts. Benchmark tables say what advertisers who target an audience pay, not what targeting it does to your cost; the within-campaign indexes in each cut are the closest thing to an effect. Cite as: Ilic, P. (2026). LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks by Audience 2026. Kiin Labs. kiin.co/research/linkedin-ads-benchmarks/by-audience. Free to cite with a link.