WARC: Consumer brands lift ad spend 36% as retail media grows

Six major consumer goods businesses increased advertising spending by 36% between 2019 and 2025, exceeding their combined revenue growth of 29%, according to WARC Media research into global advertising investment.

The findings, reported by InternetRetailing, show consumer brands committing a larger proportion of sales to advertising while the broader group of major advertisers studied moved in the opposite direction.

What happened

WARC’s Global Ad Trends: The Cost of Being Seen report examined Coca-Cola, L’Oréal, Nike, PepsiCo, Estée Lauder and Procter & Gamble. Across those six businesses, advertising expenditure grew seven percentage points faster than revenue over the period.

Part of that increase reflects a change in where marketing money is recorded. Budgets previously assigned to trade and shopper marketing are moving into measurable advertising channels, including retail media, and consequently entering reported advertising expenditure.

That distinction matters when assessing the figures: rising recorded advertising investment does not solely represent additional money committed to marketing. It also captures spending transferred from other budget categories.

The shift accompanies UK retail media spending reaching £2bn following a 32% increase, illustrating the scale the channel has reached in the domestic market.

The background

The wider WARC sample covered 25 major US-based advertisers. Their combined advertising-to-sales ratio declined from 6.1% in 2019 to 5.5% in 2025, a reduction of 0.6 percentage points.

Those businesses did not cut advertising expenditure in absolute terms. Spending increased by 56%, but revenue rose by 73%, leaving advertising accounting for a smaller share of sales.

The comparison separates expenditure growth from advertising intensity. A business can increase its advertising budget while reducing the proportion of revenue devoted to it, provided sales grow more quickly.

For consumer brands, the allocation of spending between channels is also under scrutiny, alongside calls for FMCG businesses to give social media greater priority. WARC’s research focuses on the movement of trade budgets into measured media rather than recommending a particular channel mix.

What people are saying

Alex Brownsell, head of content at WARC Media, attributed the increase in consumer goods advertising intensity to both weaker sales momentum and the transfer of trade budgets into measured channels. His explanation identifies two influences on the ratio, rather than treating it simply as a decision to spend more.

The research points to brands favouring channels where expenditure can be connected more clearly with sales. For retailers running advertising networks, access to shoppers near the point of purchase provides a way to compete for budgets that previously sat outside conventional advertising.

What happens next

WARC forecasts global advertising expenditure will increase by 11.9%, with retail media among the channels supporting that expansion. The forecast is for the overall advertising market, rather than a specific growth rate for retailer-operated networks.

The opportunity for those networks rests on attracting brands seeking measurable returns. That scrutiny of promotional effectiveness also forms the backdrop to HyperFinity’s call for a Black Friday loyalty overhaul, as businesses consider how to deploy spending around purchases.