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You have to know how your video ads stack up against industry standards. If you don’t, you’re flying blind, just spending money without any real sense of whether it’s working. Without solid video ad benchmarking, you can’t tell a winning campaign from one that’s just making noise. This guide is a step-by-step process for using BlackRock-informed data and other real-world numbers to sharpen your video ad strategy. So, how do you actually know if your ad spend is pulling its weight?

Key Takeaways

  • Use platforms like Statista to get sector-specific video ad benchmarks, which often incorporate insights from large financial firms like BlackRock.
  • Zero in on the right key performance indicators (KPIs) for your goal, like view-through rate (VTR) for awareness or click-through rate (CTR) and cost per completed view (CPCV) for action-oriented campaigns.
  • A/B test everything, your creative, your targeting, your placements, to find out what actually works instead of just guessing.
  • Constantly check your campaign data against the benchmarks you’ve set to spot weaknesses and jump on new trends.
  • Turn your findings into a constant feedback loop, so you’re always making your video creative and distribution strategy a little bit better.

1. Define Your Campaign Objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Before you even think about looking at data, you need to know exactly what you’re trying to do. Is this video ad meant to build brand awareness, get leads, or drive sales right now? Each of those goals requires tracking different performance metrics. An awareness campaign, for example, is all about getting high view-through rates (VTR) and reaching a lot of unique people, whereas a direct response campaign is obsessed with click-through rates (CTR) and conversions.

Imagine you’re launching a new product and need to build buzz. Your main KPIs would be VTR (you should be shooting for over 25% on short-form video, based on eMarketer’s 2026 video ad benchmarks), engagement like shares and comments, and the initial traffic spike to your website from the ad. On the other hand, if you’re running a retargeting campaign with a flash sale, you’d care way more about a high CTR (maybe 0.8% or better, depending on your industry) and a rock-bottom cost per acquisition (CPA).

Pro Tip: Don’t track every metric under the sun. Pick 3 to 5 KPIs that actually tie back to your main goal. Tracking too much just creates noise and makes analysis a headache.

2. Access and Interpret BlackRock Data for Industry Benchmarks

Big investment firms like BlackRock are constantly analyzing market data, which includes trends in ad spending and performance. You can’t just log into their system and pull their private data, but their insights do filter out into the world through financial reports and market research firms. For instance, you’ll often see platforms like Statista publish reports that reference trends spotted by these financial giants, giving you a solid proxy for BlackRock data and a view into the wider market.

When you’re hunting for these benchmarks, find reports that break down the numbers by industry, ad format (like in-stream vs. social), and the campaign’s goal. You might find a report showing the average VTR for car brands on social media was 32% in 2025, but for CPG brands on connected TV (CTV), it was 88%. These numbers give you a reality check and a starting point for judging your own campaigns. Remember, these are just averages. The best campaigns blow these numbers out of the water.

Common Mistake: Using a generic “all industry” benchmark. This is almost never helpful. A B2B software company’s video ad performance is going to look completely different from a fast-food chain’s. Always dig for data specific to your sector.

3. Gather Your Own Video Ad Performance Data

Once you have your external benchmarks, it’s time to pull your own numbers. This just means being disciplined about tracking inside your ad platforms. For most of us, that’s exporting reports from Google Ads, Meta Business Suite, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, and wherever else you’re running video.

Make sure you pull your data for the same time period as the benchmarks you’re using. If you have Q4 2025 industry data, export your own campaign data from that same quarter. You’ll need impressions, unique viewers, completed views, partial views (25%, 50%, 75%), clicks, conversions, and how much you spent. Most platforms let you build custom reports to get the exact KPIs you need. In Google Ads, for instance, you can go to “Reports” > “Predefined reports (Dimensions)” > “Video” and pick out metrics like “Video played to 100%” and “Cost per completed view”.

Pro Tip: Use a strict, consistent naming convention for your campaigns and ad sets. It sounds boring, but it will save you hours of pain when you’re trying to merge data from three different platforms into one spreadsheet.

4. Perform a Comparative Analysis

Now you have the industry benchmarks and your own data. It’s time to put them side-by-side. Get this into a spreadsheet or a data viz tool so you can see the gaps immediately. For example:

  • Your Campaign VTR: 45% vs. Industry Average VTR (Retail, Social Media): 38%
  • Your Campaign CTR: 0.7% vs. Industry Average CTR (Retail, Social Media): 0.6%
  • Your Campaign CPCV: $0.05 vs. Industry Average CPCV (Retail, Social Media): $0.07

This comparison instantly tells you where you’re winning and where you’re lagging. Is your VTR way below the benchmark? You might have a problem with your creative, your targeting, or where the ad is showing up. Is your CTR higher? That’s a good sign your ad is relevant and your call-to-action is working. But don’t just stare at the numbers. Think about the context. A slightly lower VTR might be perfectly fine if it’s leading to a much higher conversion rate, which could mean you’re reaching a smaller but more qualified audience.

Common Mistake: Obsessing over tiny differences. A small dip in a metric could just be random noise, not a real trend. While you probably don’t need to run a full statistical significance test for your weekly report, don’t draw massive conclusions from minor fluctuations, especially if you don’t have a lot of data. Focus on the big, obvious gaps.

5. Identify Areas for Improvement and Optimization

The whole point of this is to figure out what to do next. Your comparative analysis should point you to specific parts of your campaign that are underperforming. If your VTR is tanking compared to the industry average, start asking why:

  • Creative fatigue: Is everyone sick of seeing the same ad?
  • Irrelevant targeting: Are you showing a steak ad to a vegetarian? (Is your audience actually interested?)
  • Weak hook: Does your video fail to grab attention in the first 3-5 seconds?
  • Bad placements: Is your ad showing up in contexts where people are just trying to skip it?

And if a metric like your CTR is killing it, dig in and figure out why. Was it that specific call-to-action? A certain visual? A new audience you tested? You can then take what you learned and apply it to other campaigns. This is how you get better over time.

Editorial Aside: Too many marketers chase tiny wins when their campaign has a fundamental flaw. If your VTR is 15% and the benchmark is 35%, changing the color of your CTA button isn’t the answer. You need to address the big problem, which often means going back to the drawing board on the creative or rethinking your entire audience strategy.

6. Implement A/B Testing and Refine Your Strategy

Benchmarking tells you *what* is wrong. A/B testing helps you figure out *how* to fix it. Once you’ve spotted a weakness, you can design experiments to test solutions. For example, if your cost per completed view (CPCV) is through the roof, you could test:

  • Video length: A 15-second cut vs. the original 30-second version.
  • Opening scenes: Test an opening that states the problem directly against one that’s more atmospheric.
  • Calls-to-action: Does “Shop Now” outperform “Learn More”?
  • Audience segments: Pit a lookalike audience against an interest-based one and see who responds better.

Use the built-in A/B testing tools in your ad platforms, like Google Ads Experiments or Meta’s testing feature. Let your tests run long enough (usually a few weeks) to get enough data to be meaningful, and only test one thing at a time. If you change the creative *and* the audience, you have no idea what caused the change in performance. Write down what you learn so you build a playbook for what works for your brand.

Pro Tip: Test more than just the obvious stuff. Try experimenting with the soundtrack, the editing pace, or even the time of day your ads are shown to specific audiences. Sometimes the weirdest little changes make the biggest difference.

7. Monitor, Report, and Continuously Adapt

Benchmarking isn’t a one-and-done report you run once a quarter. It needs to be part of your regular workflow. The digital ad world changes fast, with new formats and audience habits all the time. Set up a regular rhythm for checking your video ad performance against the latest benchmarks, whether that’s weekly, monthly, or quarterly depends on your campaign’s pace.

Create simple, clear reports that show performance, explain what you’ve learned from the benchmarks, and recommend what to do next. Share these with stakeholders to show them not just the numbers, but the story behind them. This builds a data-driven culture and gets everyone on the same page. Staying competitive in video advertising means you’re always adapting your strategy based on fresh data.

At the end of the day, getting a handle on video ad benchmarking with reliable data helps you make decisions based on evidence, not just gut feelings. When you systematically compare your own performance to outside standards, you stop just spending money and start investing it strategically, which always leads to better results. For more on financial strategies, check out these BlackRock Insights.

What is BlackRock data in the context of video ad benchmarking?

In this context, it isn’t data you pull directly from BlackRock. It refers to the high-level market trends and insights that financial giants like BlackRock analyze regarding ad spend and sector performance. This analysis often gets published in reports by research firms like Statista or eMarketer, which you can then use as a reliable benchmark for your own video ad campaigns.

Which key performance indicators (KPIs) are most important for video ad benchmarking?

It completely depends on your goal. If you want brand awareness, you should be laser-focused on View-Through Rate (VTR), unique reach, and maybe engagement. If you’re after leads or sales (direct response), then it’s all about Click-Through Rate (CTR), conversion rate, and Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). Cost Per Completed View (CPCV) is another good one to watch to gauge creative efficiency.

How often should I benchmark my video ad performance?

It should be a continuous process. For active, high-spend campaigns, you might want to do a quick check weekly. For a bigger-picture strategic review against industry numbers, doing it monthly or quarterly makes more sense. It really just depends on how fast your campaigns are moving and when new industry data becomes available.

Where can I find reliable industry benchmarks for video advertising?

Go to the big names in market research. Reputable sources like Statista, eMarketer, Nielsen, and the IAB regularly publish data broken down by industry and ad format. Sometimes, the ad platforms themselves, like Google and Meta, will provide some aggregated benchmark data right in their own reporting tools.

Can I use video ad benchmarks to predict future campaign performance?

No, not really. You should use benchmarks to set realistic goals and identify where you might be weak, but they aren’t a crystal ball. Benchmarks are backward-looking averages and can’t account for your specific creative, your targeting, or what your competitors are doing right now. They’re a guide, not a guarantee of future results.