Direct correlation or not, Samsung increased
spending as it worked to get past the highly publicized 2016 recall
of its Galaxy Note 7 phone following issues of exploding
batteries.
The new ranking of the 100 biggest spenders comes from Ad Age Datacenter's all-in
assessment of reported or estimated total spending on advertising,
marketing services (including promotion and direct marketing) and
digital marketing.
P&G is still
the world's largest spender on a narrower definition of
advertising. P&G reported $7.1 billion in advertising costs in
the year ended June 2018, including TV, print, radio, internet and
in-store ads. Samsung's reported advertising expenses, excluding
its massive sales promotion budget, came in at $4.8 billion in
2017.
Total ad spending for the Ad Age World's 100 Largest Advertisers
rose 4.9 percent to $279 billion in 2017, with spending increases
at 68 companies. The ranking includes a roster of global brand
marketers from Samsung to Mazda Motor Corp. (No. 100 on the list at
$1.1 billion).
By Ad Age’s calculation, 105 companies had 2017 worldwide
ad spending greater than $1 billion.
The top 100 ranking includes four Chinese marketers that
collectively boosted 2017 worldwide spending 45 percent. Most of
their spending was in China, the second-largest ad market.
Alibaba Group Holding, China's biggest online retailer, more
than doubled 2017 worldwide ad and promotion spending to $2.7
billion, the fastest growth among the top 100 spenders.
Ad and promotion spending at Chinese internet power Tencent
Holdings surged 46 percent to $2 billion, the second-highest
growth.
SAIC Motor Corp., China’s largest domestic auto group,
boosted ad spending 23 percent to $2 billion. Yili Group, the
country's largest dairy marketer, increased ad spending 6 percent
to $1.2 billion.
Internet-centric marketers dominate Ad Age’s tally of the
world's fastest-growing ad spenders. Alphabet (Google), Netflix and
Amazon boosted 2017 spending 32 percent, 29 percent and 26 percent,
respectively.
The top 100 ranking includes 10 internet-age
companies—Alibaba, Alphabet, Amazon, Netflix, Tencent and
five others—that last year collectively increased global ad
spending by 29.6 percent. Spending for the remaining 90 companies
rose 2.6 percent.
Amazon vaulted to the No. 7 spot from No. 11 among global
advertisers with ad and promotion spending of $6.3 billion, tied
with AT&T.
Ad Age ranked AT&T on a pro forma basis using the sum of
2017 spending for AT&T ($3.8 billion) and WarnerMedia, formerly
Time Warner ($2.5 billion). AT&T acquired Time Warner in
June.
Personal care and household products was the biggest category
among the Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers with 14 marketers
spending $52 billion. Automotive was second with 16 automakers
spending $47 billion.
The top 100 includes 47 companies based in North America, 31 in
Europe and 22 in Asia.
The U.S. is home to 44 of the marketers, followed by Japan (13),
Germany (10) and France (nine).
Ten of the Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers had no
significant U.S. measured-media spending in 2017: Automakers PSA
Group and Renault (France) and SAIC (China); retailers Aeon Co.
(Japan), Carrefour (France) and Rewe Group (Germany); telecoms
Telefónica (Spain) and Vodafone Group (U.K.); and China's
Tencent and Yili.
The global ranking complements the Ad Age Leading National
Advertisers report (AdAge.com/lna2018); 66 of the 100
biggest U.S. spenders (and 80 of the 200 biggest U.S. spenders)
made the ranking of the top 100 global spenders.
Ad Age World's Five Largest
Advertisers
By 2017 total worldwide advertising
spending.
Rank |
Marketer |
Headquarters |
Category |
2017 total worldwide advertising spending |
---|
1 |
Samsung Electronics Co. |
South Korea |
Technology |
$11.2B |
2 |
Procter & Gamble Co. |
U.S. |
Personal care |
10.5B |
3 |
L'Oréal |
France |
Personal care |
8.6B |
4 |
Unilever |
U.K./Netherlands |
Personal care |
8.5B |
5 |
Nestlé |
Switzerland |
Food and beverages |
7.2B |
Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers: Top five |
|
$46.1B |
Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers: Top 100 |
|
$279.0B |
Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total
worldwide advertising spending from Ad Age Datacenter estimates and
company financial filings. Numbers rounded. Full report including
ranking of top 100, profiles and expanded footnotes:
AdAge.com/globalmarketers2018.
1. Samsung: Advertising and sales promotion. 2. Procter &
Gamble: Year ended June 2018. Estimated spending on advertising
plus other marketing costs. 5. Nestlé: Estimated "consumer
facing" marketing expenses. Spending estimate based on a revision
to Ad Age's spending model.
Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers:
Fastest-growing spenders
Chinese online retailer Alibaba more
than doubled advertising and promotion spending in 2017.
Rank |
Marketer |
Headquarters |
Category |
2017 total worldwide advertising spending |
Percent change vs. 2016 |
---|
1 |
Alibaba Group Holding |
China |
Retail |
$2.7B |
105% |
2 |
Tencent Holdings |
China |
Entertainment and media |
2.0B |
46 |
3 |
Viacom |
U.S. |
Entertainment and media |
1.3B |
35 |
4 |
Kering |
France |
Apparel |
1.4B |
34 |
5 |
Alphabet (Google) |
U.S. |
Entertainment and media |
5.1B |
32 |
Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total
worldwide advertising spending based on Ad Age estimates and
company disclosures. Numbers rounded.
Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers by
category
Fourteen personal care and household
products marketers in 2017 accounted for about $52 billion or
nearly one-fifth of ad spending for Ad Age World's 100 Largest
Advertisers. Sixteen automakers made the top 100 ranking with
spending of $47 billion.
Category |
Number of marketers |
2017 total worldwide advertising spending |
Share of top 100's spending |
---|
Personal care and household products |
14 |
$51.6B |
18.5% |
Automotive |
16 |
47.1B |
16.9 |
Entertainment and media |
11 |
29.8B |
10.7 |
Retail |
14 |
26.7B |
9.6 |
Food and beverages |
7 |
20.9B |
7.5 |
Technology |
6 |
18.9B |
6.8 |
Beer, wine and liquor |
6 |
17.8B |
6.4 |
Telecommunications |
7 |
17.3B |
6.2 |
Financial services |
6 |
13.2B |
4.7 |
Apparel |
4 |
12.7B |
4.5 |
Pharmaceuticals |
4 |
8.1B |
2.9 |
Travel |
2 |
7.8B |
2.8 |
Restaurants |
3 |
7.1B |
2.6 |
Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers: Top 100 |
100 |
$279.0B |
100.0% |
For marketers that operate in multiple
categories, Ad Age assigned marketer to its most-advertised
category. Ad Age combined personal care and household products
categories.
Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers 2018 is the 32nd annual
global report produced by Ad
Age Datacenter. A summary of Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers
appears in the Dec. 3, 2018, print edition. The complete report is
online.
Ad Age Datacenter subscribers can access the full Ad Age World's
Largest Advertisers ranking and a global database showing company
profiles, executives and key agency relationships at AdAge.com/globalmarketers2018.
Spending for Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers is 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). Ad Age translated currencies to U.S.
dollars at average exchange rates.
The global 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/globalmarketers2018.
Datacenter directors: Kevin Brown, Bradley Johnson. Senior
research editor: Catherine Wolf. Research assistants: Arabella
Breck, Felicia Darnell, Clair Hauser, Tiana Pigford, Jacob Wittich.
West Coast editor: Angela Doland.
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