LinkedIn Ads is the advertising platform within LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, operated by LinkedIn, a Microsoft-owned professional networking company founded in 2002. With more than a billion members worldwide, LinkedIn provides advertisers unique access to an audience of business professionals and decision‑makers across industries, seniority levels, and geographies. LinkedIn Ads leverages the platform’s rich first‑party professional data so marketers can target by job title, function, seniority, company, industry, skills, and more.
The advertising stack includes Sponsored Content, Sponsored Messaging, Dynamic Ads, Text Ads, and Event Ads, all managed through LinkedIn Campaign Manager. Marketers can run full‑funnel programs for brand awareness, consideration, and lead generation, supported by native Lead Gen Forms, website conversion tracking, and retargeting capabilities. Recently, LinkedIn has expanded into AI‑assisted campaign creation and optimization with features like Accelerate campaigns and predictive audiences, and is pushing deeper into video and creator-driven advertising via its BrandLink program.
LinkedIn Ads has become a core channel for B2B marketers as buyers increasingly rely on digital research and peer content. Independent benchmark reports show LinkedIn commands a growing share of B2B ad budgets and delivers strong return on ad spend compared to other channels, particularly for high‑value and long sales‑cycle offerings. The platform is widely used for SaaS, professional services, technology, and enterprise campaigns where precise account and persona targeting matter more than broad reach.
As part of Microsoft, LinkedIn operates at global enterprise scale with significant investment in privacy, security, and compliance. The company maintains SOC 2 reports and multiple ISO certifications that cover Marketing Solutions, and exposes APIs and partner integrations so advertisers can connect LinkedIn Ads data into their broader martech, analytics, and governance stacks.