Homepage Homepage

View the Global 100, a ranking of the 100 Largest Global Marketers by measured-media spending.

10 Things You Need to Know About the Global Market
Amid Uncertainty, There Are Bright Spots and Emerging Opportunities
Analysis by Bradley Johnson

Ad Age DataCenter subscribers can click "+" signs to see expanded data. The first record can be viewed for free. To subscribe, go to AdAge.com/subscribe/

Read About Global Marketers 2012 at the bottom of this page.

Top 100 marketers by worldwide measured-media spending in 2011. Click Global 100 to see ranking.

CLICK THE PLUS SIGN TO EXPAND. Top 10 marketers by country in 2011 (U.S. dollars in millions) in more than 90 countries and regions. Sources are listed under the country name.

Totals by region and category for the 100, plus ZenithOptimedia's worldwide major media spending estimates

  • U.S. versus BRIC [Data free to all users]

    Facts on key emerging markets

    Market2012 ad spending in billions2012 ad spending rankingAd growth forecast 2013 vs. 2012Ad growth 2012 vs. 2011Ad growth 2012 vs. 20002012 ad dollars per personShare of 2012 worldwide ad spendingShare of 2000 worldwide ad spendingShare of 2012 worldwide population
    U.S.$160.813.5%4.3%2.7%$51232.3%40.8%4.5%
    Brazil18.668.810.4215.1933.71.52.8
    Russia9.71113.613.71,132.2682.00.22.0
    India6.1157.35.7409.251.20.317.2
    China36.2310.212.0488.9277.31.619.1
    Worldwide497.3NA4.13.329.771100.0100.0100.0
    Source: Ad Age DataCenter analysis. Nation and worldwide ad spending from ZenithOptimedia (Advertising Expenditure Forecasts, December 2012). Population data from U.S. Census Bureau. More info: www.zenithoptimedia.com; census.gov.

  • Global 100: Regional Spending

  • Global 100: Top Five Categories

  • World's 25 largest ad markets in 2012

Media-measurement companies by country

ABOUT GLOBAL MARKETERS 2012
Advertising Age's DataCenter produced the Global Marketers report.

Global marketers that became the Global 100 were collated from media lists from 94 countries (plus breakouts for Hong Kong, Puerto Rico and the Pan Arab region) and provided by monitoring services. Primary sources of data by country include Kantar Media (known as TNS in some countries); Nielsen Co.; Ibope (Latin America); AGB Nielsen Media Research; Pan Arab Research Center; Ipsos (Africa); Sigma Conseil (North Africa and Western Africa) and Ifat (Israel). (See each country or the source links tab for links.) In some cases, monitoring services are licensees or partners of Nielsen or Kantar. Other independent companies also supplied data. Interpublic's McCann Erickson and UM, Publicis Groupe 's Saatchi & Saatchi and WPP's JWT and Group M contributed significantly to the report.

To determine the top advertisers in each country, Ad Age DataCenter started with listings from monitoring services that ranged from as few as five advertisers in smaller countries to as many as 500 advertisers in larger countries. The Ad Age DataCenter aggregated spending by parent company. For example, Asda spending in the U.K. is attributed to Walmart Stores for the Global 100 ranking. Data reported by brand were similarly summed by parent advertiser. (Wrigley is included in Mars Inc., for example.)

Ad Age DataCenter determined the Global 100 by combining media-spending data from 94 countries (plus breakouts for Hong Kong, Puerto Rico and the Pan Arab region), using data contributed by media-tracking services. To qualify as "global," a marketer had to have reported media spending in at least three major regions.

Several major U.S. companies--including AT&T and Verizon Communications, which spent in the range of $2 billion on 2011 measured media--didn't make the list because their spending was almost entirely in the U.S.

Most media lists per country were by gross rate-card ad rates. Ad Age DataCenter adjusted some markets' gross media expenditures to reflect a market's global media volume among all countries.

A Global 100 marketer had to have reported media spending in at least three of these major regions--U.S. and Canada; Latin America; Europe, Middle East, Africa; Asia and Pacific--to qualify as "global" regardless of headquarters.

Ad Age DataCenter uses average annual exchanges rates--on a historic basis--to convert local currencies to U.S. dollars. An increase or decrease in local media spending may be amplified by the conversion to U.S. dollars, depending on changes in the rates.

Advertising spending percent changes are based on more statistically accurate data than Ad Age 's published spending figures, which are in millions and rounded to one decimal place.

Global 100 figures shown are estimates of media spending. Related content: See Ad Age 's 100 Leading National Advertisers, which ranks marketers by total U.S. spending (media spending plus unmeasured spending estimates); see Marketer Trees 2012 database.

-- Questions? Comments? Updates? Contact us: DataCenter@AdAge.com
-- This database was last updated December 10, 2012.
-- Global Marketing reports -- 1997 to present are here.

This document (published December 10, 2012), and information contained therein, is the copyrighted property of Crain Communications Inc. and The Ad Age Group (Copyright 2012) and is for your personal, non-commercial use only. You may not reproduce, display on a website, distribute, sell or republish this document, or the information contained therein, without the prior written consent of The Ad Age Group.