World’s Largest Advertisers 2023: Behind the report

Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers is our annual global report on marketers. Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2023, the 37th annual report, was produced by Ad Age Datacenter and released online on Oct. 23, 2023, at AdAge.com/wla2023. More from Ad Age’s annual global report on marketers: The top 100 advertisers increased spending a modest 2.3% in 2022, with growth varying greatly by category and region. Also see: Introducing Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2023. Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2023 Ad spending, rankings and analysis for the top 100 advertisers Click here Access the report AdAge.com/wla2023 Links to all content. World’s Largest Advertisers 2023 database. Worldwide ad spending, key agencies and marketer profiles for top 100 advertisers based on total worldwide advertising spending in 2022. Biggest advertisers by country based on measured-media spending in 2022. Exclusive content available to Ad Age Datacenter subscribers through an Ad Age All Access subscription. Expanded data and rankings, downloadable in Excel. Tables include 100 biggest advertisers ranked by total worldwide advertising spending in 2022, advertisers with sharpest increases and decreases in spending and world’s top 100 advertisers aggregated by category, country and region. Exclusive content available to Ad Age Datacenter subscribers through an Ad Age All Access subscription. How to access all Ad Age Datacenter content Full access to all Ad Age Datacenter content is available through an Ad Age All Access subscription. Go to AdAge.com/getdatacenter Call 877-320-1721 Email customerservice@adage.com Contact us Datacenter@adage.com Methodology World’s Largest Advertisers 2023 database The World’s Largest Advertisers 2023 database includes worldwide ad spending, key agencies and marketer profiles for the top 100 advertisers based on total worldwide advertising spending in 2022. It also includes the biggest advertisers by country based on measured-media spending in 2022 as well as data sources for each country. Ad Age Datacenter contacted advertisers and their agencies from August through October 2023 to confirm and update information on executives and agency assignments. Update us on agencies and executives, and report database errors:Datacenter@adage.com World’s Largest Advertisers ranking Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2023 ranks marketers by total worldwide advertising spending based on company disclosures and Ad Age Datacenter estimates. Total worldwide advertising spending encompasses advertising, marketing services (including promotion and direct marketing) and digital marketing (including social media). Figures are based on calendar 2022 results or, for companies on fiscal years, the most recent fiscal year ended on or before June 30, 2023. Numbers are rounded. Ad Age translated currencies to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates. This report’s figures for 2022 and 2021 reflect data collected and/or adjusted in 2023, so 2021 ad spending and rankings for a company and its brands may be different from the 2021 figures that appeared in Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers 2022 (published in December 2022). Ad Age Datacenter changed its ad spending model for some marketers in the October 2023 report. Top marketers by country and regional spending by marketer Ad Age Datacenter calculated spending for top marketers by country and regional spending by marketer using measured-media data contributed by media tracking services covering 68 countries and markets. Primary sources of data by country include Vivvix; Kantar; Nielsen; Ibope (Latin America); AGB Nielsen Media Research; Ipsos (Africa and Middle East); and Sigma Conseil (North Africa and Western Africa). In some cases, monitoring services are licensees or partners of Kantar or Nielsen. Other independent companies also supplied data. Interpublic Group of Cos.’ McCann and IPG Mediabrands and WPP’s Wunderman Thompson and GroupM contributed significantly to the report. Wunderman Thompson will be part of WPP’s VML starting in 2024. Go to the World’s Largest Advertisers database to see Advertisers by country tab and Sources tab. To determine the top advertisers in each country, Ad Age Datacenter started with measured-media listings from monitoring services that ranged from as few as five advertisers in smaller countries to as many as 500 advertisers in larger countries. Ad Age Datacenter aggregated spending by parent company. Most measured-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. Ad Age translated currencies to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates. U.S. measured-media spending for this report is from Vivvix, including paid social data from Pathmatics. Mergers and joint ventures Brands and companies that a World’s Largest Advertiser had as of October 2023 bought or divested are generally treated pro forma in this report as if completed deals had occurred at the beginning of the company’s previous fiscal year (2021). Media spending for those brands or units generally is folded into or removed from the company for two consecutive years (2021 and 2022). An Ad Age World’s Largest Advertiser must own more than 50% of a product or unit for that product or unit’s ad spending to be consolidated with the company in this report. Ad Age treats joint ventures with 50/50 ownership as stand-alone ventures unless otherwise noted. World’s Largest Advertisers report archive Ad Age’s annual global reports are available online back to 1997. Staff Ad Age Datacenter directors: Kevin Brown, Bradley Johnson Research editor: Joy R. Lee Research assistants: Brian Gilbert, Erika Gill Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2023 Ad spending, rankings and analysis for the top 100 advertisers Click here © Copyright 2023 Crain Communications Inc. The data and information presented is the property of Crain and others and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. For personal, non-commercial use only, which must be in accordance with Ad Age's Terms and Conditions at AdAge.com/terms. Archiving, reproduction, redistribution or other uses are prohibited. For licensing arrangements, please contact lpicariello@crain.com.

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