LinkedIn Expanded Thought Leader Ads Reporting: Subscriptions and Profile Transitions

In October 2026, LinkedIn expanded the capabilities of its Ads Reporting API by adding two metrics for evaluating sponsored posts published on behalf of industry experts: Member Follows and Member Profile Clicks.

The update allows advertisers to retrieve API data on how many users followed the author of a sponsored post and how many visited the author's profile. This is particularly important for B2B companies promoting content from executives and industry experts.

What Are LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?

Thought Leader Ads allow advertisers to promote posts from a specific individual rather than only content from a corporate page. For example, a B2B company can promote an expert post written by one of its executives while preserving the individual's authorship. The author's permission is required for this type of promotion.

This approach helps build trust among potential customers. A user may read a post, visit the expert's profile, and follow them, but contact the company only several months later. Therefore, advertising performance cannot always be accurately evaluated based solely on immediate lead submissions.

How Thought Leader Ads Were Measured Before

Before the update, marketers analyzed reach, impressions, clicks, CTR, reactions, comments, reposts, and conversions. However, these metrics do not fully reflect growth in an author's professional audience.

For example, two posts may have the same CTR, but one generates new followers while the other produces only one-time interactions. For personal brand development, this is a significant difference.

It is important to clarify that follower and profile visit metrics were not introduced for the first time in October 2026. The corresponding data had already been used in Campaign Manager. The news primarily concerns expanded programmatic access through the Ads Reporting API.

What Changed in October 2026?

In LinkedIn Marketing API version 202610, two new optional fields were added to the /adAnalytics schema.

memberFollows shows the number of follows of the author's personal profile associated with a sponsored post.

memberProfileClicks shows the number of clicks to the profile of the sponsored post's author.

These metrics are available for supported Sponsored Updates formats, including Thought Leader Ads, but they are not universal metrics for all LinkedIn advertising campaigns.

The new fields should not be confused with the previously existing follows metric, which may apply to follows of a company page.

Why the New Metrics Matter for B2B Advertisers

In B2B marketing, a purchase decision may develop after multiple interactions with expert content. A user reads an executive's posts, visits their profile, follows them, and only later contacts the company.

Two sponsored posts may have the same CTR but differ in the number of followers acquired. For campaigns focused on personal brand development, this is a significant distinction.

At the same time, follows and profile visits are not equivalent to leads. These actions demonstrate interest in an expert but do not confirm purchase intent.

How to Use the New Metrics in Analytics

The new data can be combined with spend, impressions, clicks, and conversions in automated dashboards.

Cost per Member Follow is calculated as advertising spend divided by the number of follows acquired.

Cost per Member Profile Click shows the cost of a visit to the author's profile.

Member Follow Rate shows the share of follows relative to impressions or clicks. The denominator used must be specified in the report.

These metrics help compare the performance of topics, authors, and expert content formats. At the same time, paid follows must be distinguished from organic audience growth.

What Developers Need to Check

The new memberFollows and memberProfileClicks fields were added to the /adAnalytics schema in LinkedIn Marketing API version 202610. To retrieve them through an external application, developers must use this version or a newer supported API version that includes the corresponding fields.

Developers should make sure that the application has the necessary permissions to access advertising analytics and that the campaign belongs to a supported Sponsored Updates type. These metrics are not universal across all LinkedIn advertising formats.

For example, an agency can request statistics for several Thought Leader Ads campaigns at the individual ad level. The resulting data on author follows and profile visits can then be combined with spend, impressions, and clicks in a single report.

During implementation, it is important to verify that the requested fields are supported for the selected reporting breakdown, properly handle missing metrics, and account for organic actions separately. The memberFollows metric reflects follows associated with advertising activity, not the author's total audience growth during the period.

Particular attention should be paid to the difference between memberFollows and the previously existing follows field. These metrics may refer to different entities, so they should not be added together or substituted for one another without verifying their definitions.

Practical Example: Analyzing Thought Leader Ads Performance

Consider a B2B company promoting posts from two industry experts. Both authors receive approximately the same advertising spend, but their results differ.

The first expert publishes a broad market overview. The post generates a large number of reactions and reposts but relatively few followers. The second expert publishes practical recommendations for solving a specific problem. This post receives fewer total engagements but generates more profile visits and new followers.

If the company's primary objective is brand awareness, the broad engagement generated by the first post may be valuable. If the objective is to develop a long-term audience for a specific expert, the results of the second post are more important.

Therefore, evaluation should begin with the campaign objective. Follows and profile visit metrics do not replace traditional reach, CTR, or conversion metrics; they complement them.

For deeper analysis, advertisers can separately compare Cost per Member Follow, Cost per Member Profile Click, and the number of follows per thousand impressions. However, these derived metrics must be calculated independently, with the methodology clearly stated.

Why Follows Should Not Be Treated as Leads

Visiting an author's profile reflects interest in the individual or their professional expertise, but not necessarily an interest in purchasing services from their employer. Similarly, a follow may be driven by the value of the content rather than readiness for a commercial interaction.

B2B companies should supplement the new metrics with data on their target audience, subsequent activity, and conversions. For example, it is important to understand whether posts reach managers and executives who may influence purchasing decisions.

In addition, a follower may continue seeing the author's organic posts months after the advertising campaign has ended. This can potentially create a long-term marketing effect, but it cannot automatically be attributed entirely to the original advertising campaign.

Limitations and Significance of the Update

Following an expert is not equivalent to becoming a qualified lead. The new metrics are best analyzed alongside audience characteristics, CRM conversions, and subsequent interactions. As of October 2026, there are insufficient independent industry benchmarks for cost per follow.

LinkedIn's update concerns programmatic access to reporting, not the launch of a new advertising format or a new optimization algorithm. It helps advertisers more accurately measure the growth of experts' audiences and integrate these metrics into B2B company reporting.