Benchmarking advertising performance by category
Every marketer has looked at ad results and wondered what they really mean. Was that lift strong? Was it typical? Was it a sign of something bigger working? Because every impression tells a story, reporting on ad campaign results calls for more than surface-level insights. DISQO’s advertising benchmarks help give that story context, answering some of the most pressing questions marketers face.
How does this performance compare to what’s typical in the market?
What does “good” really look like for a brand like mine?
Are we pacing with the category or falling behind?
Are we focused on the right KPIs for how people buy in our category?
Which channels play the biggest role in shaping that decision?
Benchmarks help answer these questions. They show where performance stands within broader market patterns and reveal what strong results look like across different categories, including channels such as social media and CTV. Because every industry moves differently and those nuances matter, marketers need to know when a single percentage point signals major progress in one category and modest gains in another.
DISQO’s 2H 2025 Advertising Effectiveness Benchmarks, soon to be released, capture those differences. Drawing on results from more than 1,700 campaigns and seventeen lift metrics, they reveal how advertising performs across categories, channels, and stages of brand maturity. When key performance indicators are carefully analyzed, they reflect how brands move people from recognition to preference to purchase, and what strong performance looks like along that journey.
This guide explores those patterns across four industries: Consumables, Goods, Services, and Vehicles. Each tells a slightly different story about how advertising drives progress. Together, they show how benchmarks can do more than measure performance. They help marketers understand it, anticipate it, and make it better.
Industry benchmarks for Consumables
In categories where purchases happen often and decisions are made in seconds, advertising has to work fast. Consumables, like food, beverages, and personal care products, rely on familiarity and positive sentiment more than detailed persuasion. The goal is to stay visible and trusted at the moment of choice.
DISQO’s benchmarks show how this plays out in the data. Consumables outperform other categories in driving recognition and persuasion, showing strong lift in top- and mid-funnel metrics:
Ad Awareness: +0.93 points
Favorability: +3.05 points
Purchase Intent: +2.44 points
This confirms that media exposure drives meaningful shifts in perception, even when consumers are not consciously weighing options. Campaigns that keep brands present across high-reach environments like video and social sustain top-of-mind awareness and reinforce preference over time.
Because consumable purchases also happen in physical stores, lower digital outcome metrics are expected. Online behaviors such as site visitation or e-commerce activity tend to serve as signals of interest rather than conversions. What matters most is that the advertising builds salience, ensuring that when consumers reach the shelf, they instinctively reach for the brand they remember.
For marketers, industry benchmarking in this category is like a pulse check on influence. They reveal whether creative and media strategies are maintaining attention, reinforcing trust, and keeping the brand in the mental rotation of everyday decisions. In low-consideration environments, progress is not about a single transaction but about earning repeated moments of choice.
Industry benchmarks for Goods
For products that cost more, last longer, or require research before purchase, advertising plays a more direct and deliberate role. Goods such as apparel, electronics, furniture, and home improvement items depend on storytelling that builds confidence and distinction. These are categories where consumers pause, compare, and evaluate before acting.
DISQO benchmarks show how this process takes shape in the data. Campaigns for goods deliver strong results across awareness and digital engagement, demonstrating that advertising drives not only recognition but also active exploration.
Unaided Awareness: +0.51 points
Category Site Visitation: +0.96 points
Category E-commerce Activity: +2.05 points
Competitive Search: +0.64 points
These ad results suggest that consumers in this category move naturally from exposure to research. They are looking for confirmation, comparing prices, reading reviews, or returning to a brand they already recognize. Advertising initiates that process by reinforcing value, quality, and relevance.
What matters most for goods is the ability to communicate meaningfully and consistently. Awareness on its own is not enough. Consumers must understand what makes one product the right choice. Benchmarks across mid- and lower-funnel metrics reveal how effectively advertising turns recognition into preference and preference into intent.
For marketers, these campaign performance metrics and benchmark data define what strong performance looks like in a high-consideration space. A successful campaign creates curiosity and momentum. It encourages consumers to search, to explore, and to weigh their options. Once they begin that process, the brand already has their attention, and the path to conversion has begun.
Industry benchmarks for Services
Services are built on confidence. Whether in finance, insurance, entertainment, or technology, people choose providers they understand and believe in. Effective advertising for these brands is not only about visibility but about credibility. It must reassure as much as it persuades.
DISQO benchmarks reveal that services' advertising performance spikes in areas that reflect clarity and trust. Campaigns often excel in mid-funnel metrics that measure how well messages connect and how consistently they are remembered.
Message Association: +1.03 points
Familiarity: +2.73 points
Category Search: +0.89 points
Competitive Site Visitation: +1.21 points
These findings highlight a common dynamic. Services tend to have lower aided awareness but high engagement among consumers who already know them. That means advertising is resonating where it matters most, reinforcing relationships and giving audiences a reason to choose one provider over another.
For marketers, these benchmarks help identify where growth potential lies. Visibility can be expanded, but trust is the lever that moves people closer to action. When measured together, awareness, familiarity, and association provide a clear picture of how effectively a campaign strengthens both presence and credibility.
In the services category, lift is more than a measure of reach. It reflects understanding. The more audiences recognize a brand's promise and believe it will deliver, the stronger the impact across every stage of the funnel.
Industry benchmarks for Vehicles
Few categories test the endurance of advertising quite like automotive. Purchase timelines are long, decisions are complex, and competition for attention is constant. For these brands, success depends on consistency. The goal is not just to inspire interest but to sustain it over months of research, comparison, and deliberation.
DISQO benchmarks reflect that challenge. Automotive and vehicle-related campaigns tend to see smaller lifts in awareness but maintain strong performance across favorability and intent. Once noticed, these campaigns resonate deeply.
Favorability: +2.42 points
Purchase Intent: +2.19 points
Category Site Visitation: +0.80 points
Category Search: +0.27 points
These results show that while vehicles may lag in top-of-funnel visibility, they hold their ground once audiences engage. Consumers who see automotive advertising are more likely to explore, compare, and remember the brand when it is time to buy. Each exposure adds to a cumulative effect that builds familiarity and trust over time.
For marketers, benchmarks in this category emphasize the value of persistence. Automotive decisions are rarely impulsive. The right message, delivered consistently, reinforces brand equity and keeps the brand active in the consumer’s consideration set. Over time, that steady presence becomes its own competitive advantage.
In this category, lift is rarely immediate, but it compounds. The data tells a clear story: awareness builds slowly, favorability endures, and purchase intent grows stronger with careful repetition. Momentum, not immediacy, is the measure of success.
Ready to compare your advertising performance?
Advertising benchmarks do more than measure campaign performance. They give marketers a continuous and grounded view of how campaigns work across markets and audiences. The patterns they reveal help shape better questions, better decisions, and ultimately, better results.
To see the full scope of industry benchmark insights, stay tuned for DISQO’s 2H 2025 Advertising Effectiveness Benchmarks Report, which outlines performance across seventeen metrics from more than 1,700 campaigns.
