Global Ad Trends: Big Tech’s growing share of the post-COVID ad economy

This report summarises the latest research from WARC Media, with a focus on Big Tech’s growing share of the post-COVID ad economy. Key findings include:
  • Spend by just eight technology platforms – Alibaba, Alphabet, Amazon, Baidu, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix and Tencent – in 2021 totalled $46.6bn, accounting for 6.0% of all ad investment globally.
  • Ad investment by ‘Big Tech’ brands is growing faster (+49.4% in 2021) than categories such as media, retail and technology, accounting for 10.4% of global ad spend growth in 2021.
  • Advertising spend as a percentage of total sales amongst Big Tech firms is declining, as they aspire to greater efficiency in the deployment of ad budgets, with Meta being a notable exception.
  • In 2021, Amazon became the largest-spending advertiser within a...

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