Global Study: Social Reshapes the Path to Purchase as Short-Form Video & Human Influencers Rise

by ExchangeWire PressBox on 16th Oct 2026 in News

DoubleVerify (DV), the leading software platform to verify media quality, optimise ad performance and prove campaign outcomes, has announced the release of its 2026 Global Insights Report, Scroll, Stop, and Shop: Walled Garden Trends.

The report examines how social and walled garden platforms are evolving into full-funnel channels, offering advertisers new insights into how consumers engage, research, and purchase and how marketers can respond. The report draws on global surveys of 22,000 consumers and 2,020 marketers, conducted by Sapio Research, along with additional DV data.

"The findings show that social’s role in the purchase journey looks different in EMEA than in other regions," said Stuart Flint, SVP, managing director, EMEA at DoubleVerify. "That makes understanding local consumer behaviour especially important as advertisers determine which formats, platforms, and approaches will have the greatest impact."

Consumer behaviour shows social media playing a growing role in how people discover, research, and purchase products. Key consumer findings include:

Social media is becoming a direct path to purchase. Roughly 1 in 4 consumers globally use social media to research products, and 1 in 4 have purchased through social media in the past year. Nearly 4 in 10 say seeing an ad on social media can encourage them to purchase from a brand. LATAM consumers are the most likely to use social media for product research, followed by APAC, EMEA, and North America.

Short-form video drives consumer action. Nearly 4 in 10 consumers globally say short-form video ads, including Reels, TikToks and Shorts, can prompt them to click or purchase, making it the top ad format measured. That compares with 31% for ads before or during long-form video and 25% for social feed ads. Short-form video is especially effective in LATAM and APAC, compared with EMEA and North America.

Influencers are mainstream purchase drivers. Nearly half of consumers globally say micro-influencers, macro-influencers (48%) and mega-influencers (49%) influence their purchase decisions. Mega-influencers (1M+ followers) have the most influence of the three tiers measured. Their impact is strongest in LATAM and APAC (58% each), compared with EMEA (40%), and North America (39%).

Consumers are skeptical of AI-generated influencers. In one of the largest global studies to date examining consumer sentiment toward AI influencers, DV found that nearly 4 in 10 consumers respond negatively to brands using AI-generated influencers, compared with fewer than 1 in 3 who respond positively. Consumers are 10 percentage points more likely to respond positively when human influencers create content with help from AI (39%) than when the influencer itself is AI-generated (29%).

As social becomes a bigger driver of consumer behavior, marketers face growing pressure to justify their investments.

Reaching the right audience remains the biggest challenge for social advertisers, followed by measuring campaign returns, keeping up with content trends, ensuring brand suitability, and managing campaigns across multiple channels. Brand suitability is a particular concern in APAC, where advertisers place greater emphasis on aligning ads with appropriate content than their counterparts in EMEA.

"The global trend is clear, but how consumers engage with social varies significantly by market," added Flint. "In EMEA, consumers are more measured in how social influences their purchasing behaviour, reinforcing the need for advertisers to understand what resonates with audiences in individual markets."

DV offers DV Authentic AdVantage™, a holistic solution designed to help advertisers measure media quality, protect brand equity and optimise business outcomes across social media. The solution is built on the strength of the DV Media AdVantage Platform (DV MAP™), DoubleVerify’s full-spectrum media effectiveness platform, which combines media verification, AI-powered optimisation and campaign outcomes measurement to help advertisers maximise performance and return on ad spend.

To download the full 2026 Global Insights Report, Scroll, Stop and Shop: Walled Garden Trends, visit https://doubleverify.com/lp/report/social/verify/2026-dv-global-insights-walled-garden-reports.