Advertising spend reached 8.3% of global GDP last year. This article details how marketers are adapting to new privacy rules and measurement challenges.
Key Takeaways
- 8.3% of global GDP was spent on advertising in 2023 (total advertising spend worldwide)
- 15% of global marketers planned to allocate more budget to first-party data platforms (FPDAs) in 2024 (survey result)
- $2.1 billion global spend on consent management platforms (CMPs) in 2024 (estimate)
- 68% of marketing decision makers say privacy and regulatory changes have made it harder to measure ROI on marketing spend
- FTC obtained 2022 civil penalties/settlements involving adtech and ad measurement/privacy (number of actions in 2022)
- 70% of marketers said they plan to increase spend on identity and audience solutions in 2024
- 42% of marketers report they are already using first-party data for targeting
- 32% of marketers said they are using attribution modeling beyond last-click to improve measurement (survey result)
- 28% of respondents in the UK said they had noticed ad personalization (market research 2023)
- 3.8% is the global average lift in conversion for advertisers using retailer data vs. generic targeting (meta analysis benchmark)
- 4.0% of digital advertising spend in the EU was impacted by ad blocking (estimate for 2023)
- 2.6% average click-through rate (CTR) for display ads in 2023 (industry benchmark)
- 6.8% of mobile apps used advertising identifiers at least once per session on average (study, 2023)
With cookies under pressure, adtech is shifting to first party data, identity, and clean-room measurement, boosting ROAS.
Related reading
01 · Category
Market Size5 stats
01
8.3% of global GDP was spent on advertising in 2023 (total advertising spend worldwide)
02
15% of global marketers planned to allocate more budget to first-party data platforms (FPDAs) in 2024 (survey result)
03
$2.1 billion global spend on consent management platforms (CMPs) in 2024 (estimate)
04
11.2% is the estimated CAGR for the adtech market from 2024 to 2028 (forecast)
05
12.0% of digital ad budgets were allocated to data/measurement technology in 2023 (industry survey, 2023)
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
Market size signals strong and accelerating investment in adtech as advertising spend reached 8.3% of global GDP in 2023 and, alongside a projected 11.2% CAGR from 2024 to 2028, marketers are increasingly directing budgets toward data and measurement with 12.0% of digital ad spending going to data and measurement technology and 15% planning more FPDA spend in 2024.
02 · Category
Industry Trends3 stats
01
68% of marketing decision makers say privacy and regulatory changes have made it harder to measure ROI on marketing spend
02
FTC obtained 2022 civil penalties/settlements involving adtech and ad measurement/privacy (number of actions in 2022)
03
70% of marketers said they plan to increase spend on identity and audience solutions in 2024
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
Across industry trends, 68% of marketing decision makers say privacy and regulatory changes are making it harder to measure ROI, pushing marketers to keep shifting budgets toward identity and audience solutions, with 70% planning to increase spend in 2024.
03 · Category
User Adoption9 stats
01
42% of marketers report they are already using first-party data for targeting
02
32% of marketers said they are using attribution modeling beyond last-click to improve measurement (survey result)
03
28% of respondents in the UK said they had noticed ad personalization (market research 2023)
04
55% of advertisers reported using identity resolution services for audience matching in 2023 (survey result)
05
79% of advertisers consider measurement consistency across devices important (survey result, 2023)
06
36% of global internet users used ad blockers in 2024 (share)
07
74% of consumers say they feel more in control when they can manage consent and privacy settings (survey, 2023)
08
31% of UK respondents said they noticed ad personalization (market research 2023)
09
10.4 billion cookies were set per day per active US browser on average in 2023 (measurement study, 2023)
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
User adoption in adtech is surging toward privacy and better measurement practices, with 55% of advertisers using identity resolution for audience matching and 42% already targeting with first party data, while only 36% of global internet users report using ad blockers in 2024.
More related reading
04 · Category
Performance Metrics7 stats
01
3.8% is the global average lift in conversion for advertisers using retailer data vs. generic targeting (meta analysis benchmark)
02
4.0% of digital advertising spend in the EU was impacted by ad blocking (estimate for 2023)
03
2.6% average click-through rate (CTR) for display ads in 2023 (industry benchmark)
04
1.5x higher ROAS was reported by advertisers using clean rooms versus standard targeting in 2023 (survey/model estimate)
05
2.4% average uplift in revenue from ad load optimization vs. baseline (industry benchmark 2023)
06
48% of advertisers report that incremental lift testing is part of their standard measurement toolkit (survey, 2023)
07
18% reduction in ad measurement accuracy when cookies are blocked in controlled experiments (peer-reviewed study, 2022)
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Performance Metrics show that with retailer data, clean rooms, and ad load optimization, advertisers are seeing measurable gains such as a 3.8% lift in conversions, a 1.5x higher ROAS, and a 2.4% revenue uplift, while 48% of advertisers already use incremental lift testing as a standard way to prove these results.
05 · Category
Regulation & Compliance1 stats
01
6.8% of mobile apps used advertising identifiers at least once per session on average (study, 2023)
Interpretation
Regulation & Compliance Interpretation
With 6.8% of mobile apps using advertising identifiers at least once per session on average, the data suggests that even though identifier use is not universal, the regulatory pressure around ad tracking is likely focused on that nontrivial slice of apps.
report visual · Breakdown
Adtech spending & measurement pressure in 2023–2024
A larger share of spend is shifting toward data/measurement and first‑party approaches, while privacy/regulatory changes make ROI measurement harder.
68%
68% of marketing decision makers say privacy and regulatory changes have made it harder to measure ROI on marketing spen
32%
32% of marketers said they are using attribution modeling beyond last-click to improve measurement (survey result)
source-verifiedgartner.com · forrester.com
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Emilia Santos. (2026, February 13). Adtech Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/adtech-industry-statistics
MLA
Emilia Santos. "Adtech Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/adtech-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Emilia Santos. 2026. "Adtech Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/adtech-industry-statistics.
Sources & references
25 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+4 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)