From a nadir of 29.9 in April, the WARC Global Marketing Index has been rising every month since, and in October came back into growth for the first time since June 2019.

The WARC Global Marketing Index (GMI), which provides a monthly indicator of the state of the global marketing industry, reached 45.0 in September and crept back into growth territory in October at 50.3 (where 50.0 indicates no change).

But that headline figure hides significant regional disparities. The index values in both Europe (49.7) and APAC (47.2) remain in decline, although improving; the respective figures in September were 47.1 and 39.8.

In the Americas, however, the index value has bounced back into growth, with a significant rise from 49.9 in September to 56.3 in October.

This region was in fact the only one to show growth across all the various GMI indices.

Among the constituent parts of the GMI, the Index for Global Marketing Budgets has come back into growth for the first time since May 2019, rising from 44.5 in September to 51.6 in October.


The marketing budgets index reflects conditions now as a comparison to three months ago. As the pandemic continues, marketing budgets may stabilize or even grow further as businesses adapt and learn from their experiences through 2020 and begin to recover their sales as a result.

When looking at marketing budgets by medium, mobile and digital have maintained the increased rate of growth seen in September, with digital’s index value of 65.2 above mobile’s 64.8, up from 59.8 and 60.5 respectively.

Elsewhere, TV budgets have come back into growth for the first time since February 2019, rising from 45.3 to 51.2 in October.

But recovery across most traditional media is a story of a slowing rate of decline – with radio (44.2), OOH (40.1) and press (28.7) showing improvements in October versus September.

The Global Marketing Index provides a unique monthly indicator of the state of the global marketing industry, by tracking current conditions among marketers.

The global marketing panel consists of experienced executives working for brand owners, media owners, creative and media agencies and other organisations serving the marketing industry.

If you currently work for a brand owner, media owner, creative or media agency – or any other organisation serving the marketing industry – then we want you to take part in our panel. The full report is shared with participants.

Sourced from WARC