Social media marketing growth: key statistics & trends

Research highlights: Global ad spend has reached $244 billion, a 150% increase since 2019. Facebook continues to lead social media marketing growth, with 86% of marketers using the platform. The US tops global social media marketing spend, investing $335 per user or over seven times the worldwide average.

Related research: How many people use social media in (+ age & country) | What are the top social media platforms in the world? | What's the average time spent on social media each day?

Social media advertising statistics: global ad spend growth over the years

• Social media ad spend has grown by $146.5 billion or 150% since 2019, rising from $97.5 billion to $244 billion
• The average annual social media marketing growth by ad spend is approximately $29.3 billion over the last five years
• In terms of its portion of the overall digital advertising spend, social media's share grew from 24.9% in 2019 to 30.8% in 2024, a 23.7% increase in share over five years
• 2020 and 2021 marked peak years for social media advertising growth, with year-over-year increases of 36.41% and 36.09%, respectively, likely due to the global digital transformation during the peak of the pandemic
• Social media’s portion of digital ad spend also had the highest surge in 2020, with its portion of digital ad spend jumping by 15.26% in a single year
• The pace of social media advertising growth slowed after 2021, with 2022 recording a modest 4.97% increase in spend, the slowest annual growth rate in recent years.
• Social media’s share of digital ad spend declined by 3.31% in 2022, suggesting that other digital channels may have grown faster that year

How consumers discover brands: social media marketing effectiveness

• Social media marketing has become more effective over time, with global brand discovery rates climbing from 26.8% in late 2022 to 29.7% by mid-2024, an 11% relative increase in under two years
• Over the past four years, the overall trend has also been gradual but positive, with global discovery rates rising from 28.2% in Q3 2020 to 29.7% in Q3 2024, despite short-term fluctuations
• The rebound in 2023 marked a clear shift from the post-pandemic slump of 2022, when discovery via social ads dropped by almost 3 percentage points across the year
• Social media marketing effectiveness now sits near an all-time high, with nearly 3 in 10 internet users aged 16+ discovering brands through these ads as of 2024

Top platforms driving social media marketing growth

• Facebook remains the top choice for marketers, with 86% of marketing professionals leveraging the platform
• Instagram is the second-most used platform among marketers, with 79% reporting it as part of their social media marketing mix, reflecting its strong appeal for visual content and younger audiences.
• LinkedIn, used by 65% of marketers, ranks third overall and leads as the top platform for B2B marketing, highlighting its role in social media marketing effectiveness for professional audiences
• Despite being a video-first platform, YouTube is used by just over half of marketers (51%)
• X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok are used by fewer marketers, at 31% and 28% respectively. This is potentially due to platform-specific controversies or concerns over ad effectiveness and user targeting
• Threads has yet to gain traction, with only 9% of marketers including it in their strategies
• While TikTok has grown in popularity among users, less than a third (28%) of marketers report using the platform
• Despite being a Meta-owned platform, the gap between Facebook and Threads in terms of social media marketing use is substantial at 77 percentage points

Average CPM over the years

• CPM rates (the average cost to reach 1,000 people with a paid ad) fell sharply between late 2021 and early 2024, dropping from $10.19 in Q4 2021 to $4.52 in Q1 2024, a 55.7% decline that made social media advertising significantly more affordable during that period
• 2024 marked a reversal in the CPM decline, with three straight quarters of growth after ad costs began climbing again after hitting a low in Q1 2024, with CPMs rising 25.9% in just three quarters from $4.52 to $5.69 by the end of 2024
• The largest quarterly drop in CPM occurred in Q1 2022, when average ad costs fell by 25.61%
• CPM saw back-to-back annual Q1 drops in both 2022 (↓ 25.61%) and 2023 (↓ 16.87%), suggesting a seasonal trend where marketers pull back spend early in the year
• The steepest single-quarter drop occurred in Q1 2022, when average CPMs fell by 25.61%, from $10.19 to $7.58

Social media marketing statistics by country: who spends the most per active user?

• The global average ad spend per user is $46.47 and only 13 countries exceed this average
• The United States spends more than 7 times the global average and leads the world in social media ad spend per user at $335 per active user
• The top three countries, namely the United States ($335), the United Kingdom ($207), and Australia ($204), are all English-speaking markets
• South Korea ($66.83) and Japan ($95.15) stand out among Asian markets, with Japan’s ad spend per user outpacing much of Europe
• China’s ad spend per user is $78.10, slightly above the global average and higher than major Western European economies like Germany ($69.31), France ($66.67), and Italy ($55.45)
• Nordic countries all rank in the top 16, including Norway ($161), Sweden ($139), Denmark ($115), and Finland ($74.46) 
• Smaller markets like Ireland ($109), Singapore ($98.84), and Hong Kong ($94.31) significantly outpace larger economies in per-user ad spend, suggesting that marketers place a premium on digitally active, affluent audiences in compact geographies
• New Zealand ($90.19) and Switzerland ($82.09) round out the top 15, both investing nearly double the global average per user despite their smaller population sizes
• Several high-income EU countries fall below the global top 20, such as Austria ($60.89), Italy ($55.45), and Spain ($49.37), pointing to more conservative ad investments relative to the user base

Sources

• Statista | Social media advertising and marketing worldwide
• Digital 2025: Global Overview Report 
• Digital 2024: Global Overview Report
• Digital 2023: Global Overview Report

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