The U.S. animation industry includes 7,300 studios. Digital video advertising expenditures reached 20.7 billion dollars in the U.S. Marketers now apply social media at a 92 percent rate while 52 percent report budget limits on scaling campaigns.
Key Takeaways
- 7,300 U.S. animation studios industry count (2022, IBISWorld)
- In 2023, U.S. digital video advertising expenditures were $20.7B
- 92% of marketers use social media as part of their marketing strategy (2024 survey)
- 74% of marketers use email newsletters to engage audiences (2024 survey)
- 48% of marketers use marketing automation tools to segment and personalize campaigns (2024 HubSpot report)
- 10.2% average unsubscribe rate for email in industries excluding e-commerce? (2023 benchmark)
- $0.52 average cost per click (CPC) for social media ads in 2023 (industry benchmark)
- $1.20 average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) for YouTube ads in 2023 (industry benchmark)
- 52% of marketers say budget constraints limit their ability to scale marketing activities (2023 survey)
- The 2024 M&E (media & entertainment) industry labor market vacancy rate was 8.3%
- U.S. video game and animation-related advertising employment had a 2023 mean annual wage of $90,250
- As of 2024, there were 5.04 billion social media users worldwide
- In 2024, YouTube reached 2.7 billion logged-in users
- Instagram was used by 2.0 billion monthly active users globally in 2023
With martech and social video dominating outreach, animation marketers are leveraging first party data to personalize, despite budget limits.
Related reading
01 · Category
Market Size2 stats
01
7,300 U.S. animation studios industry count (2022, IBISWorld)
02
In 2023, U.S. digital video advertising expenditures were $20.7B
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
For the Market Size angle, the U.S. animation industry is anchored by 7,300 studios in 2022 while 2023 digital video ad spending reached $20.7B, signaling a large and growing advertising market that animation marketing can tap into.
02 · Category
Industry Trends9 stats
01
92% of marketers use social media as part of their marketing strategy (2024 survey)
02
74% of marketers use email newsletters to engage audiences (2024 survey)
03
48% of marketers use marketing automation tools to segment and personalize campaigns (2024 HubSpot report)
04
70% of brands used at least one first-party data strategy in 2023 (Gartner)
05
$10.2 billion global spend on martech in 2023 (Gartner)
06
The worldwide martech market is projected to reach $148.0 billion in 2023 (Gartner forecast)
07
$4.8 billion global spending on data & marketing analytics in 2022 (Gartner)
08
52% of marketers say budget constraints limit their ability to scale marketing activities (2023 survey)
09
In 2024, 66% of marketers planned to increase investment in short-form video
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
The industry trend is clear that animation marketers are leaning heavily into digital-first engagement and personalization, with 92% using social media and 48% using marketing automation tools, alongside a major push toward first-party data as 70% of brands adopted data strategies in 2023.
03 · Category
Performance Metrics5 stats
01
10.2% average unsubscribe rate for email in industries excluding e-commerce? (2023 benchmark)
02
$0.52average cost per click (CPC) for social media ads in 2023 (industry benchmark)
03
$1.20average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) for YouTube ads in 2023 (industry benchmark)
04
52% of marketers use videos in their marketing strategy (Wyzowl, 2024)
05
62% of marketers use social media to generate leads
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
For performance metrics in animation marketing, teams are increasingly relying on video and social to drive results with 52% using videos and 62% using social media for leads, while benchmarks show email unsubscribe rates average 10.2% and paid media costs remain relatively low at about $0.52 CPC and $1.20 CPM on YouTube in 2023.
More related reading
04 · Category
Cost Analysis4 stats
01
52% of marketers say budget constraints limit their ability to scale marketing activities (2023 survey)
02
The 2024 M&E (media & entertainment) industry labor market vacancy rate was 8.3%
03
U.S. video game and animation-related advertising employment had a 2023 mean annual wage of $90,250
04
In the U.S., advertising and promotions managers had a 2023 mean annual wage of $151,790
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
With 52% of marketers reporting that budget constraints limit scaling and with 2023 mean annual wages reaching $90,250 for video game and animation-related advertising and $151,790 for advertising and promotions managers, the cost analysis shows that higher labor costs are a major pressure point for marketing growth in animation.
05 · Category
User Adoption3 stats
01
As of 2024, there were 5.04 billion social media users worldwide
02
In 2024, YouTube reached 2.7 billion logged-in users
03
Instagram was used by 2.0 billion monthly active users globally in 2023
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
With billions of people already active online, the Animation Industry can lean into broad user adoption, since there are 5.04 billion social media users worldwide, 2.7 billion logged-in YouTube users in 2024, and 2.0 billion Instagram monthly active users in 2023.
report visual · Key figures
How marketers use digital channels in 2024
A majority of marketers rely on multiple channels—especially social media—while fewer use marketing automation for segmentation and personalization.
92%
92% of marketers use social media as part of their marketing strategy (2024 survey)
74%
74% of marketers use email newsletters to engage audiences (2024 survey)
48%
48% of marketers use marketing automation tools to segment and personalize campaigns (2024 HubSpot report)
70%
70% of brands used at least one first-party data strategy in 2023 (Gartner)
66%
In 2024, 66% of marketers planned to increase investment in short-form video
52%
52% of marketers use videos in their marketing strategy (Wyzowl, 2024)
source-verifiedsproutsocial.com · litmus.com · hubspot.com · gartner.com · wyzowl.com2024
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
Nathan Caldwell. (2026, February 13). Marketing In The Animation Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/marketing-in-the-animation-industry-statistics
MLA
Nathan Caldwell. "Marketing In The Animation Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/marketing-in-the-animation-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Nathan Caldwell. 2026. "Marketing In The Animation Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/marketing-in-the-animation-industry-statistics.
Sources & references
23 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+10 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)