DoubleVerify, a leading software platform that verifies media quality, optimises ad performance, and proves campaign outcomes, released 2025 Global Insights: How Consumers and Marketers Use Walled Gardens – a comprehensive report that includes platform-level insights and examines how social media continues to shape digital advertising, news consumption, and commerce.

"The appeal of advertising across social media platforms lies in their ability to blend entertainment, community and personalised experiences across both user-generated content and ads," said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. "As advertisers ramp investments across these platforms, they’re also demanding campaign effectiveness and accountability. That’s why maximising media quality, efficiency, and performance across video-centric walled gardens remains a top priority for DV — evidenced by our recent innovations like DV Authentic AdVantage™. Ultimately, the takeaway from our Global Insights Report is clear: while walled gardens promise scale and performance, sustainable value ultimately depends on transparency and trust."

For the report, DV surveyed 22,000 consumers across 21 countries to understand how people of all ages engage with these platforms, consume news, interact with influencers, and respond to advertising. DV also surveyed 1,970 marketing and advertising decision-makers worldwide to identify the key challenges and opportunities within walled gardens.

Key Trends across EMEA, including the UK:

• Social media adoption and performance: Social media is a near-universal channel across EMEA, with 90% of advertisers active on social platforms and 87% in the UK. Confidence in performance is strong: 75% of EMEA marketers say social media feeds outperform campaign baselines, increasing to 81% in the UK. Meanwhile, 77% of advertisers in EMEA and 75% in the UK believe reels perform better relative to campaign baselines.
• Brand suitability and advertiser confidence: Despite strong performance, brand suitability concerns remain elevated, with 56% of UK advertisers concerned about placement suitability. However, trust in environments remains high: 84% of EMEA and 85% of UK advertisers consider social media newsfeeds suitable, while social video and reels are viewed as suitable by 84% of advertisers in EMEA and 79% of advertisers in the UK.
• Measurement and controls: The most valued third-party tools in the UK focus on post-bid media quality measurement (40%), and pre-bid content alignment controls (39%), highlighting the demand for greater transparency, fraud protection, and contextual control as social investment grows.
• Time spent on social media: The UK stands out as most likely to spend more time on social media in the next 12 months, with 22% of consumers believing they will spend more time on social media, signalling continued audience expansion and rising commercial opportunity.
• AI exposure: UK users report the highest visibility of AI-generated content across social media (54%) and video streaming platforms (24%).

Social sits at the heart of the EMEA digital advertising ecosystem, delivering both strong upper-funnel brand impact and consistent performance uplift. The continued outperformance of feeds and reels demonstrates how video-led, socially native formats are driving measurable value across the region.

However, this growth is mirrored by heightened sensitivity around brand suitability and trust, particularly in the UK, where concern levels exceed the regional average. As confidence in platforms continues to rise, advertisers are increasingly focused on context-aware planning, robust verification, and quality-first optimisation to protect brand reputation while unlocking sustained performance.

In an era of accelerating platform change and rising media complexity, these insights reinforce the importance of trusted environments, verified delivery, and attention-led strategies to drive meaningful impact across EMEA.

To view the full report, visit: here

DoubleVerify

DoubleVerify is the leading independent provider of marketing measurement software, data and analytics that authenticates the quality and effectiveness of digital media for the world’s largest brands and media platforms. DV provides media transpare...

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