51 Marketing Industry Statistics: The Numbers You Should Know

Numbers, numbers everywhere, and not a second to think.

Understanding industry numbers provides valuable insights for effective marketing strategies, but the fast-paced business world makes it hard to stay current with the latest marketing trends and stats. That's why we've rounded up the marketing industry statistics you need to know.

Just don't get lost in the numbers. Pay attention to the statistics that matter to your brand. Unless you're in e-commerce, you probably don't need to know how much shipping prices impact purchase decisions. (It's a lot.)

Top Marketing Industry Statistics You Need To Know in 2024

The marketing landscape is constantly evolving. In this section, we'll look at the key statistics that are defining the industry this year. Understanding these numbers will help you stay ahead of the curve and make informed decisions for your business.

Marketing Industry Spending Statistics

How much are people spending worldwide on digital marketing? A lot, and marketing industry statistics show that companies are investing significant percentages of their budgets in digital marketing opportunities.

Latest Marketing Industry Statistics for 2024

• Digital marketing industry: The global digital advertising and marketing market is projected to reach $786.2 billion by 2026, driven by the rapid growth of digital platforms and the increasing adoption of online advertising strategies.

• Mobile ad spending: US spending on mobile ads is projected to reach $235.67 billion by 2025.

• Email marketing market: In 2023, the newsletter community on beehiiv grew over 7 times compared to 2022, with 26,345 content creators.

• Social media ad spending: Global social media ad spending hit $230 billion in 2022, as companies invest heavily in platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to expand their brand presence and engage their target audience effectively.

• Content marketing industry: In 2022, the global content marketing industry revenue was around $63 billion. The source projects it to grow to $107 billion by 2026.

• Marketing automation industry: The global marketing automation industry revenue was valued at around $5.9 billion in 2023. By 2030, it is projected to more than double, surpassing $13.7 billion.

• Audio ad spending: In 2022, audio had the highest digital ad spend growth rate in the U.S. at 20.9%. Video followed closely with a growth rate of 19.3%.

Digital Marketing Budget Statistics

• Digital marketing budget: On average, companies allocate 53.8% of their marketing budgets to digital marketing. The top spenders on digital marketing include the education (75.5%), technology (65.7%), and healthcare (64.6%) industries.

• Total marketing budget: After reaching record lows during and after the pandemic, the average spend is now 9.5% of company revenue across industries.

• Decreased spending: According to the latest survey, 52% of marketers say economic pressures have led to a decrease in spending.

• Digital ad spending: In 2022, digital ads comprised an estimated 63% of total U.S. ad spending.

Marketing Industry ROI Statistics

If you're spending your hard-earned money, you'd better be getting something in return. Let's delve into the return on investment (ROI) that businesses are seeing from their marketing campaigns.

• Digital marketing ROI: Across channels, a decent return on investment is about 5:1.

• Email marketing ROI: The average return on investment (ROI) for email marketing is estimated to be $36 for every dollar spent.

• Search ads ROI: Google claims a 2:1 average ROI on search ads.

• Facebook ROI: According to a survey conducted in November 2022, nearly 30% of US small businesses claimed that Facebook provides the highest ROI for their marketing strategies. Direct mail and email followed closely, mentioned by 23.4% and 19.2% of respondents, respectively.

• ROI measurement: Just 54% of marketers feel confident that they can accurately measure ROI across digital channels.

• Landing page conversion rate: The average landing page conversion rate is about 4%.

While marketers increasingly prioritize digital channels, print isn't dead just yet. In 2022, direct mail delivered the top return on investment (ROI) for 43% of surveyed marketers.

2024 Digital Marketing Statistics by Channel

Brands concentrate their efforts on different platforms and channels. Let these marketing industry statistics help you decide how to allocate your budget.

Social Media Marketing Statistics

Marketers currently allocate 17.0% of their budget to social media marketing, with a predicted increase to 20.3% within a year and 26.4% in five years.

Social media's perceived direct contribution to company performance remains modest for most industries. The most popular use for social media is brand awareness and brand building, cited by 92.9% of marketers, rather than direct promotion.

Facebook is the social media channel with the highest return on investment (ROI) for 22% of B2B marketers. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube tied for second place.

Social Media Consumer Behavior

• Social media use: In 2022, internet users worldwide spent an average of 151 minutes on social media daily. (Clearly, someone's picking up my slack when it comes to socializing online.)

• Facebook engagement rate: The sports industry has the highest Facebook engagement rate.

• Instagram content: 50% of weekly Instagram users prefer funny content. Other popular content includes creative material (desired by 46%) and informative content (desired by 41%).

• TikTok hashtags: The most used hashtag on TikTok is "fyp," an abbreviation of "for you page."

Email and Content Marketing Statistics

At beehiiv, we spend so much time talking about email marketing statistics that I decided to loop email in with other forms of content for this article.

B2C marketers have caught up with B2B marketers in content marketing strategy — 73% of both B2B marketers and B2C marketers incorporate it as a vital component of their overall marketing strategy.

Best Content Marketing Practices

• Backlinks: Blog posts that include 7 or more images generate 55% more backlinks compared to those without.

• Videos: Articles with at least one video received 70% more traffic compared to articles without videos.

• Content audits: More than half (61%) of the most successful companies in content marketing conduct content audits at least twice a year.

• Regular newsletters: 27% of U.S. consumers think that a brand's regular newsletter could influence their purchase decisions.

• Welcome emails: In 2023, welcome emails on beehiiv had an open rate of 47.05%.

• Long-tail keywords: In SEO, long-tail keywords have a 36% better conversion rate than short terms.

• Landing pages: Landing pages boast a 160% higher conversion rate when compared to alternative signup forms like pop-ups and sign-up boxes.

Paid Search Advertising Statistics

In the U.S. alone, the digital ad market should pass $300 billion by 2025.

That money goes to those controlling the search market. Bing now accounts for a significant 9.19% of global desktop searches, but Google still dominates with 83.49% of the market. In third place, Yahoo accounts for 2.72%.

Consider incorporating display ads into your paid Google strategy. On average, users who are exposed to display ads are 155% more inclined to search for brand-specific terms.

Consumer Preferences Statistics

The customer may not always be right, but they do control the power of the purse. So what makes them whip out the credit card? Actually, the most used online payment method in the U.S. is a debit card, so what makes them break that out?

• Fast delivery: Fast delivery is crucial in influencing online purchase decisions in the U.S. and U.K. A majority of survey respondents (59%) stressed the importance of speedy delivery when making online purchases.

• Customer service: 94% of customers stated that a positive customer service experience increases their likelihood of future purchases. 82% would recommend a company based solely on it.

• Product sustainability: China has the highest percentage of consumers (80%) prioritizing product sustainability in active and casual lifestyle brands. In contrast, the United States had the lowest percentage at 67% (#RedFacedAmerican).

• Social consciousness: After peaking at 38% in 2020, the proportion of U.S. adults valuing a company's social consciousness and kindness in shopping decisions decreased. In 2023, only 27% ranked as "very important."

Just remember that you'll never please everyone. About 48% of U.S. online consumers found it convenient when brands used their data for personalized advertising, helping them discover relevant products and services. However, 47% felt it was intrusive.

Multi-Channel and Growth Marketing Statistics

People are spreading themselves more broadly than ever before.

Compared to pre-COVID-19 marketing, most marketers (61.2%) report an increase in the number of channels used by companies. Recently, many (56.9%) are also returning to pre-COVID-19 face-to-face channels.

Major enterprises allocate the highest percentages of their digital marketing budgets to social advertising (10.1%), search advertising (9.8%), and digital display advertising (9.3%).

Marketers try to spend their dollars with an eye to the long game, but this proves difficult for most.

Companies typically allocate more than half of their budget to short-term performance but would prefer to strike a balance with long-term brand building. Current short-term-focused spending is 59.9%, but marketers report their ideal as 49.5%.

When it comes to pursuing growth, a majority of marketers (68.0%) agree that it's important to link growth opportunities to the company's position and strategy. For example, you should choose the newsletter growth channels that best align with your vision.

Marketing Industry Measurement Statistics

Numbers are only as good as your ability to analyze them.

50% of B2B marketers view data utilization for decision-making and performance measurement as their main challenge. This highlights the need to effectively communicate investment value to finance departments and C-level executives.

As indicated by the division between short-term and long-term spending, marketers prioritize the close-up, primarily focusing on tactical and short-term metrics like sales revenues, digital/web/mobile performance, content engagement, and lead generation.

Most B2B marketers (64%) are content with their marketing tech stack. However, there is room for improvement, as 80% continue to evaluate their martech stack and 77% identify redundancies within it.

Around 62% of marketers use multiple measurement solutions to understand marketing performance. However, this multi-pronged approach may contribute to uncertainty and lack of confidence in the results.

Why You Should Care About Marketing Statistics

Let statistics hone your competitive edge. The numbers can help you:

• Chart your course with confidence. With many platforms to choose from, deciding where to focus your efforts can be overwhelming. Learn where to invest resources for maximum returns.

• Stay ahead of the pack. In the race to capture market share, digital marketing statistics provide insight into your competitors' strategies, allowing you to outmaneuver them.

• Ride the trend wave. Digital marketing trends change at lightning speed. Statistics act as your trend radar so you can detect emerging patterns and opportunities.

• Measure success and adapt. Marketing industry statistics give you benchmarks to evaluate your success and ideas to improve your relative performance.

So instead of letting the numbers wash over you, focus your takeaway. What is one piece of new (or newly confirmed) information that could influence your digital marketing strategy going forward?

For example, if you're not yet earning your potential 36:1 ROI on email marketing, it's probably time to change that. Sign up for a beehiiv account today.

Why Trust Us

beehiiv is the hottest emerging player in email marketing, building on the expertise developed as newsletter innovators. As for me, I'm a digital marketer and content writer with a niche in email and long-form content.