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Prime time: Amazon is now Earth's biggest advertiser
The pandemic punched a hole in budgets for even the most successful marketers, but Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers report found a few that ratcheted up 2020 spending
Analysis by Bradley Johnson
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Top 100 marketers by total worldwide advertising in 2019. Click Ad Age World's 100 Largest Advertisers to see ranking.
Worldwide advertising spending $2.38 billion
44| TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING | |||
| Worldwide | Year ended 12/31/2019 | Year ended 12/31/2018 | % chg |
| Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions) | $2,376 | $2,999 | -20.8 |
| Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Promotion and advertising expenses. | |||
| WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES | |||
| Year | Ad costs ($ in millions) | Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales | |
| 2014 | 949.6 | 7.4 | |
| 2015 | 935.6 | 5.7 | |
| 2016 | 1,388.6 | 6.1 | |
| 2017 | 2,022.1 | 5.7 | |
| 2018 | 2,999.4 | 6.3 | |
| 2019 | 2,376.1 | 4.3 | |
| Ad costs: Stated worldwide "promotion and advertising expenses" converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates. 2018: 19.806 billion renminbi. 2017: 13.661 billion renminbi. 2016: 9.219 billion renminbi. 2015: 5.814 billion renminbi. 2014: 5.833 billion renminbi. Ad spending as percent of sales: Worldwide "promotion and advertising expenses" as percent of worldwide "revenues." | |||
| MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2019 | |||
| By region ($ in millions) | 2019 | 2018 | % chg |
| Africa | 0.0 | NA | NA |
| Asia and Pacific | 4.3 | 2.8 | 49.7 |
| Europe | 0.0 | NA | NA |
| Latin America | 0.0 | NA | NA |
| Canada | 0.0 | NA | NA |
| Subtotal media outside the U.S. | 4.3 | 2.8 | 49.7 |
| U.S. media spending | 0.1 | 0.2 | -26.1 |
| Worldwide measured media | $4.4 | $3.0 | 45.7 |
| For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media. | |||
| SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents) | |||
| Tencent Holdings (HKG: 0700) | |||
| Worldwide | Year ended 12/31/2019 | Year ended 12/31/2018 | % chg |
| Sales | $54,647 | $47,354 | 15.4 |
| Earnings | 13,515 | 11,921 | 13.4 |
| GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2019) | |||
| Region ($ in millions) | Year ended 12/31/2019 | Year ended 12/31/2018 | % chg |
| Mainland China | 52,224 | 45,986 | 13.6 |
| Others | 2,423 | 1,369 | 77.0 |
| DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2019) | |||
| Division or segment sales ($ in millions) | Year ended 12/31/2019 | Year ended 12/31/2018 | % chg |
| Value-added services | 28,967 | 26,751 | 8.3 |
| Fin tech and business services | 14,680 | 11,076 | 32.5 |
| Online advertising | 9,904 | 8,795 | 12.6 |
| Others | 1,096 | 732 | 49.8 |
Marketer profiles for Ad Age World's 100 Largest Advertisers in 2019
Worldwide advertising spending $2.38 billion
44Top 10 marketers by country in 2019 (U.S. dollars in millions) in 80 countries and markets. Sources are listed under the country name. Click the plus sign to expand.
Kantar Hungary
| Measured media spending | 2019 | 2018 | % chg |
| GlaxoSmithKline | 324.3 | 120.5 | 169.2 |
| Ferrero | 303.5 | 169.6 | 79.0 |
| Sanofi | 291.0 | 189.1 | 53.8 |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | 261.6 | 176.9 | 47.9 |
| Coca-Cola Co. | 178.0 | 77.1 | 131.0 |
| Dante International | 176.0 | 93.4 | 88.4 |
| Auchan | 169.7 | 76.3 | 122.4 |
| Bayer | 168.9 | 126.7 | 33.2 |
| Ceconomy | 164.3 | 78.0 | 110.7 |
| NorgesGruppen | 146.6 | 104.4 | 40.4 |
Media-measurement companies by country
By country. Click the plus sign to expand.
34th annual global report, produced by Ad Age Datacenter.
The complete Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers 2020, including top 100 ranking and Global Marketers database, is available online exclusively to Ad Age Datacenter subscribers at AdAge.com/globalmarketers2020. Online content includes:
-- Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers 2020 ranking: Ad Age's exclusive ranking of the 100 biggest spenders based on total worldwide advertising spending.
-- Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers 2020 database:Global Marketers database with profiles, ad spending, executives and key agencies for world's 100 biggest spenders.
-- Top marketers by country: Rankings based on measured-media spending.
Methodology for Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers: Spending for Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers 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 2019 results or, for companies on fiscal years, the most recent fiscal year ended on or before June 30, 2020. Numbers rounded. Ad Age translated currencies to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates.
Methodology for top marketers by country and regional ad spending by marketer: Spending calculated by Ad Age Datacenter using measured-media data contributed by media tracking services covering nearly 80 countries and markets. Primary sources of data by country include Kantar; Nielsen; Ibope (Latin America); AGB Nielsen Media Research, and Ipsos (Africa). (See each country or the source links tab for links.) In some cases, monitoring services are licensees or partners of Nielsen or Kantar. 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.
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.
Related content: Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2020, which ranks marketers by total U.S. spending; and Ad Age Marketer Trees 2020, a database of the Ad Age Leading National Advertisers' top 100 spenders.
Datacenter directors: Bradley Johnson, Kevin Brown. Senior research editor: Catherine Wolf. Research assistants: Nadia Alexandra, Bennett Judd, Joy R. Lee.
-- Questions? Comments? Updates? Contact us: [email protected]
-- This database was last updated Dec. 7, 2020.
-- Archive of Global Marketers reports: 1997 to present.
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