Ad Age Datacenter produced the 66th annual Ad Age Leading National Advertisers report. Ad Age published the report online July 12, 2021. A portion of the report appeared in Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2021 Executive Summary, included with Ad Age's July 12, 2021, print edition and downloadable at AdAge.com/LNA2021-executive-summary.

Ad Age Datacenter subscribers have exclusive access to the complete report at AdAge.com/lna2021. Exclusive online content includes:

• Ad Age Marketer Trees 2021, a database with ad spending, brands, profiles, executives and agency rosters for the nation’s 100 biggest advertisers    
• Expanded tables, downloadable in Excel. Tables include 200 Leading National Advertisers, 200 most-advertised brands, biggest ad spenders by medium and biggest ad spending categories

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About Ad Age Marketer Trees 2021

Ad Age Datacenter produced Ad Age Marketer Trees 2021 as a database with ad spending, brands, profiles, executives and agency rosters for the 100 biggest U.S. advertisers. Ad Age Datacenter contacted advertisers and their agencies in May, June and July 2021 to confirm and update information on executives and agency assignments.

Update us on agencies and executives, and report database errors:
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About the ranking

The Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2021 report ranks marketers by total U.S. advertising spending as estimated by Ad Age Datacenter.

Total U.S. ad spending estimates come from a top-down analysis of a company's spending on advertising based on disclosures in financial filings, company reports and industry benchmarking. Ad Age weights a company's reported worldwide ad costs to reflect a U.S.-only percentage. Ad Age estimates spending for companies that don't publicly disclose ad spending.

Total U.S. ad spending encompasses advertising, marketing services (including promotion and direct marketing) and digital marketing (including social media).

Ad Age has based its Leading National Advertisers rankings on a broad definition of advertising and promotion since the report debuted in 1956. The first report called the ranking "a carefully considered analysis of total advertising and promotional expenditures for each of these giant advertisers."

From the report's launch through the 2016 report, Ad Age defined total U.S. ad spending as the sum of measured-media spending and unmeasured spending.

Essentially, unmeasured spending was the difference between a company's measured-media spending (from Kantar) and its total U.S. advertising and promotion costs (either reported by the company or estimated by Ad Age Datacenter).

Starting with the 2017 report (200 Leading National Advertisers 2017), Ad Age eliminated the calculation of unmeasured spending.

Total U.S. ad spending now is based on Ad Age's top-down analysis of a company's estimated spending. Total U.S. ad spending is lower in some cases than U.S. measured-media spending, which comes from Kantar's bottom-up tally of spending in measured media based on rate card, average pricing data supplied by media sellers and other factors. Major advertisers in many cases get significant discounts off rate cards. Not all advertisers pay the same rate.

This report's figures for 2020 and 2019 reflect data collected and/or adjusted in 2021, so 2019 ad spending and rankings for a company and its brands may be different from the 2019 figures that appeared in the July 2020 report (LNA 2020). Ad Age Datacenter changed its ad spending model for some marketers in the June 2021 report.

Measured media

In addition to total U.S. ad spending, the Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2021 report shows measured-media spending.

Measured-media spending for this report includes ad spending in 19 media. It consists of 19 media tracked by Kantar in its Stradegy product.

More info: kantar.com/media.

Measured media include:

TV

• Broadcast network TV
• Cable TV networks
• Spanish-language network TV
• Spot TV
• Syndicated TV

Digital

• Desktop internet display 
• Desktop search

Magazine

• Business-to-business magazine
• Consumer magazine
• Local magazine
• Spanish-language magazine
• Sunday magazine

Newspaper

• Local newspaper 
• National newspaper 
• Spanish-language newspaper
• Free-standing inserts

Radio

• Local radio
• National spot radio
• Network radio

Outdoor and cinema

• Cinema (included for aggregate U.S. measured-media spending; not included in measured-media spending for individual companies in 200 Leading National Advertisers)   
• Outdoor

Mergers and joint ventures

Brands and companies that a Leading National Advertiser had as of July 2021 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 (2019). Media spending for those brands or units generally is folded into or removed from the company for two consecutive years (2019 and 2020).

An Ad Age Leading National Advertiser must own more than 50 percent 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.

 

 

Brands

Ad Age Datacenter determined the 200 biggest U.S. brands—the nation's 200 most-advertised brands—by aggregating measured-media spending for all products or services that fell under that brand. For example, Ad Age combined Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft and Miller High Life under the Miller brand.

Category totals

Ad Age aggregated Kantar category classifications as follows (not comprehensively):

• Apparel: ready-to-wear, underclothing and hosiery, jewelry, accessories, footwear.
• Direct-response advertising: direct-response advertising in all classifications.
• Food, beverages and candy: beverages, confectionery and snacks, dairy, produce, meat and bakery goods, prepared foods, ingredients, mixes and seasonings.  
• Home furnishings, appliances and electronics: household furnishings and accessories, building materials, equipment and fixtures, appliances, electronics.   
• Medicines and remedies: pharmaceutical firms, medicines and proprietary remedies, fitness, eyeglasses, medical equipment. 
• Movies, recorded video and music: DVDs.
• Retail: discount department and variety stores, department stores, retail, shopping centers and catalog showrooms.

Staff

Ad Age Datacenter directors: Kevin Brown, Bradley Johnson
Senior research editor: Catherine Wolf
Research assistants: Nadia Alexandra, Bennett Judd, Joy R. Lee

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