Yet, instead of booming results, many marketers are now facing a troubling paradox: the more they spend, the less they seem to get in return.
According to The Pulse of Performance Advertising: Diminishing Returns—a global study by Taboola in partnership with Qualtrics—nearly 75% of performance marketers say they’re witnessing declining ROI from social media spend.
It’s a sobering reality in a market where ad budgets are ballooning.
Forecasts predict global social media ad spend will hit US$239 billion in 2025, surging to US$273 billion by 2026.
So why aren’t the results keeping up?
Ad Fatigue, Saturation, and the Plateau of Performance
The study reveals an ecosystem under strain.
Social feeds are increasingly cluttered, consumers are scrolling faster than ever, and once-reliable ad metrics are beginning to stagnate.
Among the key pain points:
30% or more of ad spend is underperforming, according to the majority of marketers surveyed.
Ad fatigue is widespread—consumers are tuning out brand messages en masse.
Auction-based pricing models continue driving up costs while results flatline.
This isn’t just a bump in the road.
It’s a systemic shift in the way digital performance advertising behaves—and marketers are feeling the impact.
The Smart Shift: From Platform Obsession to Performance Precision
But it’s not all doom and diminishing returns.
The smartest marketers are already rewriting the rules.
Over 80% of advertisers surveyed say they’re adopting multi-channel strategies, moving beyond the duopoly of search and social.
More than half have already diversified into new digital ecosystems, recognising that future performance won’t be won in the feed—it’ll be built across the funnel.
Adam Singolda, CEO of Taboola, puts it bluntly, “More spend just isn’t translating into better results. The findings in this report show that performance advertising must evolve—and fast.”
Where Are Marketers Heading?
The new performance frontier includes:
Native advertising on premium publisher platforms—less disruptive, more contextual.
Programmatic and contextual targeting powered by first-party data.
Performance storytelling—where branded content drives action through narrative, not noise.
Retail media and recommendation platforms, like Taboola’s Realize, which now reaches 600 million daily users through partnerships with brands like NBC News, Yahoo, and Samsung.
From Clicks to Customers: A Strategic Recalibration
This is the wake-up call: short-term clicks are no longer a reliable benchmark of success.
In 2025 and beyond, sustainable performance will belong to brands willing to shift their mindset—from channel-first to customer-first, from reach to resonance.
The question isn’t how much you’re spending.
It’s whether your spend is actually working.
For marketers still hooked on chasing impressions and likes, it may be time to step back and ask: Are we measuring what matters—or just funding the scroll?
