Foreword
Advertising is saying more, and saying it differently by industry. This report measures how brands spend and what they say across 10 industries, 6 channels and 20 quarters, so every marketer can see where their industry stands.
Working from MediaRadar’s creative data for 10 industries that together account for roughly two-thirds of US ad spend, we looked at three dimensions of creative output: how many messages each ad carries, what those messages are about, and how many distinct ads an industry produces for its spend. Together they form each industry’s messaging DNA.
Three patterns stand out. Ads are getting denser: the average ad carries 1.45 messaging categories today, up from 1.38 in 2021, and complexity rose on every channel except mobile. Brand messaging now covers more of the budget: its share of tracked ad spend rose 6.1 points while Direct Response fell 6.4. And industries sit far apart: Retail runs roughly nine times as many unique creatives as Pharma for the same indexed spend, while QSR layers nearly twice the messaging of Automotive.
None of these positions is wrong. What matters is whether it was chosen. Use this report as the benchmark to make that choice on purpose.
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