Marketing and advertising spend as a percentage of revenue by industry, from 10-K disclosures

Across 133 US public companies in 27 sectors, disclosed advertising runs 0.1% to 37.5% of revenue, median 1.7%. Among sectors with at least three filers, the heaviest is Tobacco at a median of 10.9% and the leanest is Industrial - Distribution at 0.4%. From each company's latest 10-K; updated September 2026. Only companies that disclose a dollar figure for advertising appear; most filers do not, and an absent line is absent, not zero. The figure is the filer's own, as a percent of the same year's revenue.

Tobacco: median 10.9% across 5 companies (range 3.8% to 12.7%); Apparel and footwear: median 7.8% across 5 companies (range 6.0% to 9.1%); Furnishings, Fixtures & Appliances: median 7.0% across 3 companies (range 3.1% to 7.1%); Leisure: median 6.5% across 5 companies (range 4.0% to 9.9%); Branded household and personal care: median 5.1% across 9 companies (range 0.8% to 26.7%); Travel Lodging: median 3.8% across 3 companies (range 2.3% to 5.5%); Packaged-food: median 3.6% across 8 companies (range 1.2% to 10.8%); Restaurants: median 2.9% across 14 companies (range 1.2% to 37.5%); Consumer durables and housewares: median 1.5% across 6 companies (range 0.5% to 7.4%); Specialty Retail: median 1.4% across 18 companies (range 0.1% to 7.0%); Consulting Services: median 0.9% across 6 companies (range 0.3% to 1.5%); Discount and value retail: median 0.7% across 7 companies (range 0.2% to 1.6%). Sectors with fewer than three filers are in the table but not summarised here, because a median of one or two companies is not a benchmark.

Only companies that disclose a dollar figure for advertising appear; most filers do not, and an absent line is absent, not zero. The figure is the filer's own, as a percent of the same year's revenue. Each company's briefing page shows its peer set and the disclosed lines; the JSON link carries the numbers.