WARC has reported that the world's biggest brands are spending a smaller share of sales revenue on advertising. Its analysis of 25 major US-listed advertisers found the decline was led by large technology groups.

Across the companies reviewed, the combined ad-to-sales ratio fell from 6.1% in 2019 to 5.5% in 2025, according to WARC Media. Combined advertising spend still rose 56% over the period, but that lagged revenue growth of 73%.

The broad pattern does not point to a pullback in advertising budgets in absolute terms. Instead, it suggests revenues at many large groups have grown faster than ad spending, reducing the proportion of sales reinvested in promotion.

The sharpest shift came from major technology companies. Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Netflix cut their combined ad-to-sales ratio from 13.0% in 2019 to 7.4% in 2025, while combined revenue climbed 146% from USD $379 billion to USD $931 billion.

WARC estimated that, had those four companies maintained their 2019 ratio, they would have spent USD $121 billion on advertising in 2025, or USD $52 billion more than they actually did. The figures show how some digital platform groups can expand without increasing paid media spending in line with sales.

The report said this helps explain an apparent contradiction in the global market. Overall advertising expenditure continues to grow, with WARC forecasting global ad spend to rise 11.9% this year to USD $1.34 trillion, yet some of the largest brand owners are becoming less advertising-intensive by this measure.

3% over the past 25 years, driven partly by newer channels including retail media and platform advertising.

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