[Marketing Week] Bob Koigi: The big tech ad paradox

The global advertising market is expanding, but the world’s biggest companies are spending a shrinking share of their revenue on advertising. The shift highlights a growing divide between technology platforms that monetize audience attention and traditional brands that must pay to reach consumers.

WARC Media’s Global Ad Trends: The Cost of Being Seen report finds that Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Netflix saw their combined advertising-to-sales ratio fall from 13% in 2019 to 7.4% in 2025. Yet their combined revenue surged 146% to $931 billion. Maintaining their 2019 advertising intensity would have required an additional $52 billion in advertising investment in 2025.

The figures suggest that Big Tech’s growth increasingly depends on business models and platforms that generate revenue without proportionate increases in advertising expenditure. For advertising agencies, this raises questions about future spending by major enterprise clients.

Across 25 leading US advertisers, revenue grew 73% between 2019 and 2025, outpacing advertising expenditure growth of 56%. Consumer goods brands bucked the trend, increasing their advertising intensity as softer sales growth and shifting trade budgets towards retail media lifted measured investment.

WARC forecasts global advertising spending will reach $1.34 trillion in 2026, up 11.9%. However, market growth does not necessarily signal stronger commitment from established brands.

The implication is clear: advertising’s next growth phase may depend less on bigger budgets from corporate giants and more on smaller advertisers, digital commerce and platforms capturing new demand. Agencies must adapt to a market where rising industry expenditure can coexist with declining investment intensity among their largest clients.

Campaigns of the week

INEOS Automotive has launched Grit Stop, a global campaign created with DEPT® ahead of the Formula 1 MSC Cruises United States Grand Prix 2026 in Austin.

Courvoisier has launched Pass The Courvoisier, its first global campaign in nearly 20 years, developed with BBDO Paris. The campaign draws on Courvoisier’s history of hospitality, which spans almost two centuries.

Mediaplus has partnered with Doctors Without Borders in Germany to launch Fragrance Without Borders, a fundraising campaign that uses the format of a luxury fragrance advertisement to highlight the need for humanitarian medical care.

Agencies and accounts

Wise Up PR has been appointed public relations agency of record for TruTechnologies, a clinical trial technology company, to lead its media relations, thought leadership and communications strategy.

Partnerships and acquistions

Salesforce has signed a 15-year strategic agreement worth up to £2 billion with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to modernise taxpayer services.

Publicis Groupe has reached an agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on commitments related to its planned acquisition of LiveRamp, with the deal expected to close before the end of 2026.

Bauer Media Group has agreed to acquire eisbach.media GmbH from Goldbach Group AG, part of TXGroup, marking its entry into Germany’s out-of-home (OOH) advertising market.

Other major news of the week

LePub has partnered with Heineken and Amazon Ads to launch Pubscription, a Fire TV experience that applies streaming discovery mechanics to finding pubs and bars.

The JustWatch Group has launched JustWatch TV, a streaming service integrated into its website and apps, expanding its platform beyond content discovery to direct viewing.

Bob Koigi is the editor-in-chief of Marketing Report.One

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