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How We Spend & What We Say

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The State of Advertising Spend based on five years of cross-industry data.

Report October 2026 8 min read

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.

The consumer sees thousands of messages. Where does mine stand, and is that by choice?

Alignment or divergence is a valid choice. Default is not. This study is the benchmark to start from.

Key Questions

Three components of how brands spend and what they say

We examined three dimensions of creative output. Together they form each industry’s unique messaging DNA, and that DNA is evolving quarter by quarter.

  1. Message Complexity

    How many distinct messages does each ad carry?

  2. Message Focus

    What is each ad about: Value, Product, Brand, or Direct Response?

  3. Creative Volume

    How many distinct ads does an industry produce per dollar of spend?

Industry Messaging DNA

Each industry combines these three dimensions into a distinctive fingerprint. That fingerprint is evolving quarter by quarter.

Q1 2021 to Q4 2025

Each industry’s DNA is tracked across 20 quarters.

Methodology

A Taxonomy for Creative Messaging

MediaRadar tags each creative against roughly 30 third-level messaging elements, applied per-industry. We group these into four messaging dimensions: Value, Product, Brand, and Direct Response. An ad can carry more than one at a time.

Creative Messaging

  • Value
    • Price Positioning
    • Promotional Offers
  • Product
    • Comparative Ad
    • Industry-Specific Product Attributes
  • Brand
    • General Image
    • Celebrity & Awards
    • Social Responsibility
  • Direct Response
    • Direct Response
Because ads can be tagged against multiple themes at once, category shares can sum to more than 100%. Not every third-level element applies to every industry; MediaRadar tailors the applicable tags by sector.

Scope

What This Study Covers, and What It Doesn’t

We track creative messaging across 10 industries and 6 channels, covering roughly two-thirds of total US ad spend. Channel mix estimates reflect FY 2025. Search is excluded because it carries no creative-level messaging data.

  • 10Industries
  • 6Channels
  • 20Quarters (2021–2025)

Across all tracked industries in FY 2025, our 6 measured channels carry 47.8% of ad spend. Search (25.2%) and Social & Other (27.0%) make up the rest. Search is excluded from messaging analysis because it’s a keyword medium, not a creative one; Social & Other sits outside MediaRadar’s creative coverage. The 10 industries cover 66.6% of total US ad spend.

Exhibit 1

Channel and Industry Coverage

Share of US ad spend; channel mix for FY 2025

Industry
  1. Channel mix estimates reflect FY 2025.
  2. Gray bars: channels outside the study. Search is excluded from messaging analysis because it’s a keyword medium, not a creative one; Social & Other sits outside MediaRadar’s creative coverage.
  3. Industry view: each industry’s own spend, split across channels.

Source: MediaRadar, Q1 2021–Q4 2025, and FY 2025 channel mix estimates; MMA analysis

Key Themes

What We Found

Four themes emerged from the data, and the conclusions draw them together. Each one is explored in depth below.

  1. Message Complexity

    QSR layers nearly twice the messaging of Auto. Across the market, ads are getting denser: on 5 of 6 channels, new messages are being added, not swapped.

  2. Message Focus

    Brand is gaining ground (+6pp), but within a more complex mix. Some industries risk losing focus in the layering.

  3. Creative Volume

    A 9x gap between Retail and Pharma. This isn’t a budget difference; it’s a philosophy difference about how advertising works.

  4. Industry Messaging DNA

    Volume and complexity together define four creative quadrants, from TV Storytellers to Variant Factories.

  5. Conclusions

    Three trends cut across every industry in the study, and they leave one question to take back: deliberate, or drifting?

Theme 1

Message Complexity Is Rising

How many messages are brands packing into each ad, and is it deliberate?

The full report

Continue reading

5 chapters · 6 interactive exhibits

  1. 01 Message Complexity
  2. 02 Message Focus
  3. 03 Creative Volume
  4. 04 Industry Messaging DNA
  5. 05 Conclusions

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