Volkswagen Group leads automotive spending on advertising

Volkswagen Group led automotive spending on Advertising Age’s 2016 list of the top 100 advertisement spenders worldwide.

Fifteen automakers and tire maker Bridgestone Corp. constituted the automotive category on the World’s Largest Advertisers list. Seven of those automakers made the top 25, Advertising Age, an affiliate of Automotive News, reported this month.

VW ranked No. 4 on the biggest-spenders list, with its ad spending in 2015 totaling $6.6 billion.

General Motors was next for automakers, taking sixth place on the list. It spent $5.1 billion in 2015. Daimler AG ranked No. 7 and spent $5 billion.

Ford Motor Co. took the No. 11 spot on the list and spent $4.3 billion in 2015, while Toyota Motor Corp. followed at No. 12 with $4.1 billion.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles rang in at No. 14. The automaker spent $3.9 billion on 2015 worldwide advertising efforts. BMW Group clinched the No. 25 spot with $3.1 billion.

The automotive category spent more than any other category on the list. The auto industry’s combined spending of $47 billion in 2015 accounted for about 20 percent of the top 100 companies’ total ad spending of $240.5 billion.

Personal care and household products was the second-place category, spending about $45.7 billion in 2015. It included companies such as Procter & Gamble Co. -- ranked No. 1 on the top-spenders list -- and Unilever -- ranked No. 2.

Geographically, the U.S. held 46 of the world’s top 100 ad-spenders and spent $115.2 billion in 2015.

The next-closest country was Germany, which spent $28.9 billion in 2015 among its 10 spenders on the list. Three of the four German companies in the top 25 list were automotive.

The World’s Largest Advertisers list is the first of a refreshed version of Advertising Age’s Global Marketers report, which it has published annually since 1987. Advertising Age based company rankings on its data center estimates and companies’ public ad-spending statements.