We now can quantify advertising’s global pandemic pullback: Spending for the world’s 100 biggest advertisers fell 7.1% to $278 billion in 2020.

But it could have been worse. And spending in 2021 has bounced back, with a double-digit percentage jump in some key categories as marketers rebuild and rebound. 

Among the top 100 advertisers, 70 cut spending in 2020, with decreases ranging from 0.3% at Chinese dairy marketer Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. to a 66% plunge at travel marketer Expedia Group.

But 27 marketers boosted spending last year as they took advantage of business opportunities during the pandemic, with increases ranging from 0.4% at restaurant operator Inspire Brands (Arby’s, Dunkin’) to a 90% increase at Chinese internet retailer Alibaba Group Holding. (Spending for three companies in the Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers top 100 was unchanged.)

Procter & Gamble Co. reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers ranking. P&G’s estimated worldwide marketing spending jumped 7.3% to $11.5 billion in the fiscal year ended June 2021 amid a pandemic-related sales surge for paper and cleaning products.

Amazon dropped to second place with $10.9 billion in 2020 worldwide advertising and other promotional costs, down about 1%. With unprecedented demand for online shopping from homebound consumers, Amazon last year delivered the goods with "lower spending [in 2020] on marketing channels as a result of COVID-19," according to the company’s annual regulatory filing.

P&G has ranked as the world’s top advertiser in all but two years since Ad Age began the global ranking in 1987. P&G came in No. 2 behind Amazon based on 2019 spending and No. 2 behind Samsung Electronics Co. based on 2017 spending.

Amazon is one of 14 internet-centric companies in the Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers top 100 ranking. The internet firms collectively increased 2020 global ad spending 0.6% (versus a decline of 8.5% for the remaining 86 companies in the ranking).

Spending changes varied markedly among internet companies, with big increases among Chinese internet titans Alibaba (up 90%, as noted) and Tencent Holdings (up 62%) and sharp pandemic-driven declines among internet travel plays Expedia (-66%, as noted) and Booking Holdings (-56%).
 
Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers is a global ranking, but Ad Age also analyzes top advertisers by country. For the first time, according to Ad Age Datacenter’s analysis, the top spender based on ad and promotion spending in 2020 in all of the world’s three biggest ad markets was an e-commerce company: Amazon in the U.S., Alibaba in China and Rakuten in Japan.

Want to dig deeper? Subscribe to Ad Age Datacenter to see expanded data on Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2021.

Amid a brief but brutal global recession precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic, ad spending for the top 100 advertisers declined in 2020 for only the sixth time in the 35 years that Ad Age has produced its global report.

Last year’s spending drop was the second-sharpest decline over that period, below the 8.7% decrease seen amid the Great Recession in 2009. The other drops were -2.6% in 2001, -0.9% in 2012, -2.1% in 2014 and -2.0% in 2015.

The 2021 tally for marketers won’t be clear until after public companies disclose full-year financial results starting in the early months of 2022. But the latest quarterly filings from marketers confirm a solid rebound, with a spending surge for some major advertisers.

Industry forecasts show a remarkable recovery. In a forecast released last week, WPP’s GroupM said global advertising will jump 22.5% in 2021 to reach media ad revenue of $763 billion, an all-time high, after falling 3.1% in 2020. (Those figures exclude U.S. political advertising, which soars in even years for elections and falls in odd years.)

GroupM expects 2022 global ad growth of 9.7% excluding U.S. political ads and 11.0% including U.S. political ads.

Internet titans, some of which pulled back spending in 2020, have powered up spending this year.

Amazon in 2020 reduced ad and promotion spending for the first time since 2003. But its worldwide marketing expenses in the first nine months of 2021 vaulted 49%.

In a quarterly filing, Amazon said that increase was "primarily due to higher marketing spend, which was constrained in 2020 in response to COVID-19, and increased payroll and related expenses for personnel engaged in marketing and selling activities."

Given that spending trend, Amazon is on track to report a significant increase in full-year 2021 ad and promotion spending, topping 2019 to reach an all-time high. Amazon is in the prime position to retake the top spot in the Ad Age global ranking coming out in December 2022.

Google parent Alphabet in 2020 slashed ad and promotion spending by $1.4 billion or 21%, the company’s first-ever spending cut, as it “reduced spending and paused or rescheduled campaigns and changed some events to digital-only formats as a result of COVID-19,” the company said in its annual filing.

But Alphabet boosted ad and promotion spending by $1.2 billion in the first nine months of 2021, putting it on pace to record its highest-ever spending for the full year.

In a filing, Alphabet said: “The increase in advertising and promotional activities was driven by both increased spending in the current period and a reduction in spending in the prior year comparable period due to COVID-19.”

Netflix last year reduced marketing spending 16% (its first cut since 2008) even as revenue rose 24% amid heightened demand for online streaming content during the pandemic.

Netflix stepped up marketing this year; in the first nine months of 2021, marketing spending and revenue both increased about 20%.

Japanese internet firm Rakuten ratcheted up ad and promotion spending 37% in the first nine months of 2021.

Alibaba’s sales-and-marketing expenses rocketed 80% in the six months ended Sept. 30, the first half of its fiscal year, as it poured money into marketing and promotions.

Alibaba has pumped up marketing as its revenue growth rate slumps. It has forecast revenue growth of 20% to 23% in the year ending March 2022, down from 41% growth in the year ended March 2021.

If Alibaba continues to spend aggressively for the rest of its fiscal year, Ad Age Datacenter modeling shows Alibaba could come in No. 2 behind Amazon (or possibly No. 3 behind Amazon and P&G) in the December 2022 global ranking based on Alibaba ad and promotion spending for the year ending March 2022.

Alibaba scored fifth in the ranking released today and was No. 15 in the ranking released last December.

Financial services marketing has come back strongly in 2021, with double-digit percentage spending increases in the first nine months at Capital One Financial Corp., Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup (following double-digit drops in 2020).

Capital One’s marketing spending surged 79% through Sept. 30 (after tumbling 29% in 2020), and it is set to report full-year 2021 spending well above the previous record of $2.3 billion in 2019.

Consumer packaged goods spending also is growing. Coca-Cola Co.’s ad spending in the first nine months jumped 50% (after falling 35% in 2020), bringing spending back to almost its pre-pandemic level.

Colgate-Palmolive Co. boosted ad spending about 10% in the first nine months. P&G’s marketing spending in its most recent quarter rose in line with sales, which were up 5%.

Clorox Co. increased ad spending 2% in its most recent quarter. That compares to a 31% increase in the same quarter a year ago that came during a pandemic spike in demand for cleaning products.

Automotive spending is rising from its depressed year-ago level. General Motors Co. said increased ad spending in the nine months ended Sept. 30 was “primarily related to the suspension of production and the non-recurrence of austerity measures implemented in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

There’s less need, though, for car companies to spend on promotions this year given pent-up demand from buyers and a tight supply of new vehicles resulting from chip shortages.

On the flip side, a boom in used cars is fueling advertising at Carvana, which boosted ad spending 71% in the first nine months “to drive growth in units sold and vehicles acquired from customers,” according to a quarterly filing.

Travel marketing has rebounded from 2020 lockdown lows, with a 90% increase in direct selling and marketing expenses at Expedia and a 58% jump in marketing spending at Booking Holdings in the first nine months of 2021.

Still, travel marketing spending—and travel revenue—remain well below the level of pre-pandemic 2019. American Airlines in October said it expects its fourth-quarter revenue to be down about 20% versus the fourth quarter of 2019.

Sports betting ventures are placing big wagers to build brands. DraftKings’ sales-and-marketing expenses more than doubled in the first nine months as it poured money into advertising and sponsorships. Flutter Entertainment (FanDuel, Fox Bet) in the first half of 2021 more than tripled U.S. marketing spending.

Global ad spending for the top 100 declined in 2020 in every marketer category except for retail and personal care/household products, according to an analysis after Ad Age assigned each company to its most-advertised category.

The list’s cohort of 13 personal care and household product marketers increased spending fractionally (up 0.7%). Colgate boosted spending nearly 15%, and Estée Lauder Cos., P&G, Reckitt and GlaxoSmithKline had single-digit spending growth. Japan’s Shiseido Co. and Kao Corp. had low double-digit spending decreases, according to Ad Age Datacenter’s analysis.

Among the top 100 advertisers, 13 auto marketers cut spending 17.7%, with the sharpest decrease at GM (-27%) as auto production and sales fell during the pandemic.

The ranking includes 16 retailers that in aggregate increased spending 3.0% in 2020, reflecting double-digit percentage increases at internet retailers Alibaba, Wayfair, eBay and Rakuten and double-digit decreases at Walmart and luxury marketers Compagnie Financière Richemont, Kering and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers includes a roster of marketers from P&G, based in Cincinnati, to No. 100 Novartis, based in Basel, Switzerland.

Among the top 100 advertisers, 50 have headquarters in North America, 29 in Europe and 21 in Asia.

The global ranking complements the Ad Age Leading National Advertisers ranking; 86 of last year’s 200 biggest U.S. spenders (and 71 of the 100 biggest U.S. spenders) made the ranking of the world’s top 100 spenders.

Seven of the Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers had no significant U.S. measured-media spending in 2020: China-based Baidu (internet), SAIC Motor Corp. (auto), Tencent (internet) and Yili (food and beverages); French automaker Renault; German retailer Rewe Group; and Japanese retailer Aeon Co.

Ad Age Datacenter subscribers can access the full World’s Largest Advertisers ranking and a global marketers database showing ad spending, key agency relationships, executives and company profiles at AdAge.com/globalmarketers2021.

Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2021 is the 35th annual global report produced by Ad Age Datacenter.

Ad Age Datacenter subscribers can access the full ranking and a global database at AdAge.com/globalmarketers2021. 

Online content includes:

     • Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2021: Ad Age Datacenter’s exclusive ranking of the 100 biggest spenders, downloadable in Excel.
     • Global marketers database: Ad spending, key agency relationships, executives and company profiles for Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers.
     • Biggest advertisers by country: Rankings based on measured-media spending.

Subscribe to Ad Age Datacenter to see expanded data on Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2021.

Methodology: Spending for Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2021 from Ad Age Datacenter estimates and company disclosures.

Total worldwide advertising spending encompasses advertising, marketing services (including promotion and direct marketing) and digital marketing (including social media). Figures are based on calendar 2020 results or, for companies on fiscal years, the most recent fiscal year ended on or before June 30, 2021. Ad Age translated currencies to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates.

The global marketers database also breaks out measured-media spending for top advertisers by country based on Ad Age Datacenter’s analysis of spending data from media tracking services. Links to tracking services are available at AdAge.com/globalmarketers2021.

Datacenter directors: Kevin Brown, Bradley Johnson. Senior research editor: Catherine Wolf. Research assistants: Bennett Judd, Andy Larson, Joy R. Lee.

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