What industry’s spending the most?
Market research shows that we’re all spending more these days. A few of the old standbys are the really big spenders, including Ford and Procter & Gamble, but technology and telecommunication industries have deep pockets when it comes to their marketing budgets. Their ads are insistent and they’re constantly adding new products—even as their service levels plummet.
- Amazon is the world’s largest and fastest-growing online ad buyer, spending more than $17 million on digital ads and promotions in 2021. (Pattern)
- Ford Motor Company – $2.45 billion
- Verizon Communications – $2.64 billion
- General Motors – $3.24 billion.
- Amazon – $3.38 billion.
- AT&T – $3.52 billion
- Procter & Gamble – $4.39 billion
- Comcast Corp. – $5.75 billion
- Google has been the market leader in online advertising for more than a decade and is expected to command 29% of global digital ad revenue in 2021. (CNBC)
In case you didn’t know: Google makes more than $1M/day from their online advertising business.
Post-pandemic marketing budgets have grown for a lot of reasons
There’s the cost of software and online advertising. Pay-per-click ads give us much more control over our marketing spend, but the fees quickly add up. People want to know about marketing budget trends and the breakdown by industry. What are other companies in their space doing? Who’s spending the most?
An exponential increase in marketing budgets
Many marketers across all industries have exponentially increased their spend on digital transformation and online campaigns. It’s an effort respond to consumer demand for digital experiences in the global marketplace. Fees for services and software can quickly add up.
My own experience with digital software is a small but good example
I’ve been regrouping and doing research on which tools I want to buy to better manage my own and my clients’ digital accounts. This is Alice down the rabbit hole. There is a gazillion apps—often doing the same thing. Each comes with its own free trial and a litany of promises. While I like learning to use new apps, there is always a learning curve. I’m wondering how many of these new apps I really want to learn to use while manaing my own workload. And once the free trials expire, the prices on these apps start to add up. If you’re a small business owner and you’re buying these apps for a team of ten-12 users, you start to understand how software becomes a bigger line item in your marketing budget.
The current state of marketing budgets
The numbers below highlight changes and trends brought on by the pandemic, as well as plans for growth. Companies are betting that the worst of the pandemic is now behind them, knowing that this could all change if/when another variant surfaces.
A general overview of marketing spend activity around the world shows that it’s constantly changing–whether that’s steady or rapid growth and decline. Despite the dips in ad budgets and revenue for many sectors over the past year, research shows that these industries likely will recover over time.
Some ad trends to note:
- Worldwide advertising revenue is forecasted to jump 10.2% to a record $651 billion in 2021, after falling 4.1% in 2020. (Ad Age)
- Across the globe, the automotive industry experienced the greatest fall in advertising spend in 2020, losing almost €13 billion. (WARC)
- Travel and tourism sectors cut ad spend sharply by 33.8% in 2020, but is projected to be one of the fastest-growing sectors in 2021 with over 19.5% growth. (WARC)
- Thinking optimistically, 95% of CMOs believe the post-COVID-19 economic curve will be V-shaped–either expecting a return to business-as-usual in the next 18-24 months, or a significant positive impact going forward. (WNIP)
Digital advertising spend
Many industries have struggled during the last couple years while others have thrived. As the world continues to move towards an increasingly online-connected lifestyle, companies have adjusted their strategies and refocused their ad spend priorities to market to consumers’ changing needs.
Mobile advertising is more important than ever with increased smartphone use worldwide and marketing spend is reflecting that:
- 97% of US internet users today own mobile devices and 90.2% of them use these devices to access the internet. (DataReportal)
- Nearly 25% of companies invest in mobile optimization as a top SEO tactic. (HubSpot)
- Mobile display ad spend reached $61 billion in 2020, a 22% increase from 2019. More than half of display ad spending was on rich media, which included a majority of mobile video ad content. (eMarketer)
- Overall ad spend for mobile devices is forecasted to hit more than $137 billion in 2022, and $156.38 billion by 2023. (eMarketer)
- Paid search ads are changing the game for advertisers—from small business to big multinationals.
- Mobile search ads can increase brand awareness by 46%, while more than 50% of smartphone users have discovered a new product or company when performing a search on their mobile device. (SEO Tribunal)
- In 2021, marketers spent nearly $71 billion on paid search ads in the US–$26.5 billion on desktop/laptops and $44.3 billion on mobile placements. (eMarketer)
- The average CPA in Google Ads across all industries is $56.11 for search and $90.80 for display network. (Instapage)
Ready to join the online ad frenzy?
While it can be intimidating, PPC is actually a step-by-step process that lets you set your own budget to control costs. You can select your audience and monitor your campaign to find out what works. If you need help with your online ad campaign, contact Top of Mind Marketing. We’re writers and digital marketing specialists.