Top 100 advertisers of 2024—Future Titans of Advertising report

In many ways, the media and advertising industry resembles an arms race. Established leaders exhibit stability and influence, while emerging players increase spending and look for new openings to break through. Up-and-coming brands strive for recognition through creativity and less-saturated media. But as the advertising landscape expands across more screens and platforms, for new media sellers, certain fundamentals remain unchanged. A new report from MediaRadar, the Future Titans of Advertising, ranks the top 100 brand advertisers in 10 highly competitive industries, and breaks them down into Titans, Future Titans and Contenders. For those managing ad budgets, this data offers insights into what it takes to become a category leader. Titans dominate with strategy Giant brands such as Amazon, Verizon and Disney make their presence known to large swaths of the population by maintaining at least a 15% share of voice in their categories, whether on TV, digital media or elsewhere. Half of these types of brands increased their media spending over the past year while the other half dialed back, but one thing that Titans have in common is they are consistent in both their campaign output and their media mix. Verizon, which captured an 18% share of advertising voice in Q3, allocated 45% of its dollars to TV and 35% to digital outlets. Amazon—which boasted an impressive 35% share of voice this quarter (boosted by a 35% surge in overall spending)—deployed a whopping 75% of its media budget on digital vehicles, versus 13% on TV. These market leaders make sure they are noticed where their customers are, and they make their spending count. Future Titans pursue aggressive, bold growth Although their share of voice is smaller, Future Titans aggressively increase spending and push media boundaries. According to our findings, this group of brands spent at least 30% more on advertising this year compared with the same period in 2023, netting them a share of voice between 7.5% and 15%. Several of these marketers (like Temu, Adobe, Allstate and Bristol Myers Squibb) even doubled their media budgets this year. Because they cannot yet spend at the level of the largest brands, Future Titans like Chanel and Ford exhibit a willingness to experiment. As a result, their media mixes tend to fluctuate more than those of Titans, as they tinker in search of the right formula for breaking through to customers. The pharmaceutical brand Allergan doled out 23% of its budget to digital, along with 65% on TV, while the e-commerce marketplace Temu pumped 34% of its dollars toward paid social media. Luxury brand Chanel maintained a 33% spending level in old-school print—still a uniquely reliable medium for this category. Contenders grow through innovative tactics Even with their smaller budgets, brands considered Contenders saw their spending grow 30% year-over-year, raising their share of voice to just below the 7.5% level. These challenger brands tend to use innovative tactics to carve out space in less-saturated media. The up-and-coming pharmaceutical brand Eli Lilly (maker of the weight loss drug Mounjaro) has poured more money into free, ad-supported streaming services. Athletic apparel brand Lululemon saw its media budget balloon by 56%, with nearly 80% of that going toward digital channels. Media mix flexibility matters While Titans demonstrate that they have found their mix and know what they want from their media output, the truth is the best brands are constantly recalibrating as they try to balance traditional media with new digital channels. A great example of that can be seen in the pharmaceutical sector, which has long been heavily reliant on linear TV but is now branching out as it looks to reflect changing demographics and consumer media habits. The same can be said for streaming services and even sports leagues, which must battle for customers and fight churn on every emerging digital channel. Given how fast consumer habits have changed in just the past five years, none of these brands can afford to rely on old playbooks. For brands and ad buyers, this means they’ll have to closely monitor both consumer consumption data, as well as shifts in pricing and response rates. Future Titans and Contenders are finding openings on emerging channels such as free streaming platforms and paid social campaigns where they are better able to establish a sizable presence in a more efficient, less competitive space. The key for these brands going forward will be to identify the next opening quickly and master the nuances of alternative media channels before others do. This kind of nimble, bold media planning will help brands not only break through, but establish beachheads and lay the groundwork to enable them to be Titans of tomorrow. About MediaRadar MediaRadar, now including the data and capabilities of Vivvix, powers the mission-critical marketing and sales decisions that drive competitive advantage. Our innovative solutions enable clients to achieve peak performance with always-on marketing intelligence that spans the media, creative, and business strategies of five million brands across 30+ media channels. By bringing the advertising past, present, and future into focus, our clients rapidly act on the competitive moves and emerging advertising trends impacting their business.

Top 100 advertisers of 2024—Future Titans of Advertising report

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