DoubleVerify a software platform to verify media quality, optimise ad performance, and prove campaign outcomes, released 2025 Global Insights: How Consumers and Marketers Use Walled Gardens—a report based on a global study of 22,000 consumers and 1,970 marketing and advertising decision-makers worldwide.
The report reveals how social platforms are shaping digital advertising, commerce and news consumption—and the key opportunities and challenges that walled gardens present to marketers worldwide.
While global trends point to rising social media influence across audiences, the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) market continues to demonstrate key differences—despite marketers in the region sharing the same challenges and concerns.
According to the findings, 72 per cent of ANZ marketers are concerned about brand suitability when advertising on social platforms—placing ANZ among some of the most concerned globally. In fact, content alignment and managing campaigns across multiple channels are cited by 34 per cent of ANZ marketers as the third most significant challenge when advertising on social—behind reach (40 per cent) and keeping up with content trends (35 per cent). Advertisers’ concerns are validated with 47 per cent of ANZ consumers have cited in an earlier report that they are less likely to purchase from brands whose ads appear alongside content they find objectionable.
While 90 per cent of Australian consumers regularly engage with social content, social media has limited influence over Australian consumers’ decision-making. Majority of Australians said influencers have little to no impact on their purchase decisions, compared to more than half (64 per cent) of APAC respondents who say social media influencers impact their purchase decisions. Only 18 per cent of Australian consumers research products on social media, and just 19 per cent have made a purchase through a social platform in the past year.
“It’s encouraging to see that more than half of ANZ advertisers prioritise post-bid media quality measurement to improve campaign planning,” said Conrad Tallariti, managing director, APAC, DoubleVerify.
“But measurement alone isn’t enough—especially in a market like Australia where consumers remain slower to adopt social media for shopping and brand discovery. To maximise media performance and ensure content quality, advertisers need to complement post-campaign insights with real-time optimisation and proactive brand suitability controls—powered by automation—to drive outcomes before, during and after every impression, not just after the fact”.
Additional ANZ highlights from the study include that news consumption remains traditional with 57 per cent of Australians get their news via TV, 33 per cent via news websites, and only 24 per cent through social media—lagging behind global trends, where younger consumers prefer social and digital video platforms for news. Retail and brand websites remain more dominant for online purchases: 46 per cent of Australians shop via retail sites and apps and 34 per cent via brand websites, significantly outpacing social commerce (19 per cent).
The main global takeaways included 28 per cent of consumers expect to spend more time on social media over the next 12 months, followed by 22 per cent who plan to increase time spent streaming user-generated content. In comparison, only 15 per cent expect to watch more broadcast TV.
When asked how they prefer to get their news, there was a clear generational divide. Consumers aged 18–44 favour online, digitally native video platforms (42 per cent) or social media sites and apps (40 per cent). In contrast, those aged 45–65+ prefer traditional sources such as TV news channels (59 per cent) or legacy news websites and apps (37 per cent).
Social media’s growing influence on shopping habits as 27 per cent of consumers responded that social media is one of their top three pre-purchase research tools. More than half (54 per cent) say social media influencers impact their purchase decisions, and 30 per cent have made a purchase directly through a social platform in the past year.
AI content surges across social platforms with 57 percent of consumers having said they’ve encountered AI-generated content on social media—more than double the share who reported seeing it on search (26 per cent).
Marketers cite reach as top challenge as nearly half (46 per cent) of social media advertisers expressed reaching their target audience is their biggest hurdle. As algorithms increasingly personalise what users see—limiting how widely ads are shown—marketers cited the need for third-party measurement to maintain transparency and effectiveness.
“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,” concluded 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.”
