Amazon dethrones Procter & Gamble as world’s largest advertiser

Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble has been ousted from its long-held title as the world’s largest advertiser.

Advertising industry publication Ad Age, which publishes an annual list of the largest spenders on marketing, shows that for only the second time since 1987, Cincinnati-based P&G is not in the No.1 spot.

P&G was leapfrogged by Amazon, which spent $11 billion on advertising and promotion in 2019. That represented an increase of 34% in ad spending over 2018, when Amazon ranked No. 5 on the Ad Age list.

Procter & Gamble secured the No. 2 spot with $10.7 billion in ad spending in its fiscal year that ended in June 2020. That represents a $600 million increase from its spending of $10.1 billion in 2018.

It’s only the second time that the maker of consumer brands like Tide, Crest, Always, Gillette and Febreze did not hold the top spot in the last 33 years. P&G was briefly ousted by Samsung Electronics Co. in 2017.

P&G rival L’Oréal, headquartered in France, came in just behind the Cincinnati consumer goods firm, spending $10.3 billion on advertising in 2019.

Ad Age warns that it doesn’t expect the same kind of spending increases when it makes its 2020 report next year, after companies have reported financial results for this year.

“But 2020 ad spending figures for top marketers are going to be depressed—with exceptions for some advertisers that increased spending to take advantage of market opportunities amid the coronavirus pandemic,” the publication wrote.

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