Earned & PaidExpedia
Expedia spent $3.90B on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025, down 2.5% on the year before and +11% since 2019. That's 26.5% of revenue, less than in 2019: the business outgrew its marketing.
Marketing spend by year
Bars: advertising and marketing expense, $B (10-K). Line: spend as a share of revenue.
What they told investors
“In our consumer business, our sharper measurement and targeting capabilities are allowing us to invest in the highest return opportunities and leverage our marketing spend.”Ariane Gorin · 2026 Q2 · transcript
“We grew our bookings 8% while leveraging marketing spend, which was only up 1%.”management · 2026 Q2 · transcript
“We had the substantial reductions in marketing spend and driving out inefficient spend, but also redirecting spend to more productive channels.”management · 2026 Q2 · transcript
“They're developing these agentic systems to create personalized ads at scale, both using our technology and using third-party technology.”Ariane Gorin · 2026 Q2 · transcript
“Overall, AI-enabled tools are driving hundreds of millions of dollars in realized marketing value through greater productivity and workflow automation.”Ariane Gorin · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“our consumer business grew about 10% this quarter, the strongest growth in nearly 8 years, while we've cut marketing spend in the consumer business 7%.”management · 2026 Q1 · transcript
What the 10-K says about marketing
- shifting the mix “To reduce complexity and improve operations, in 2020, we shifted to a platform operating model, which enabled us to deliver more scalable services and operate much more efficiently. For example, we now manage our marketing investments holistically across the entire brand…” 10-K, Feb 13, 2026
- shifting the mix “fitability depend on our continued ability to maintain and increase the overall number of traveler transactions flowing through our brand and shared platforms in a cost-effective manner, as well as our ability to attract repeat customers and customers that come directly to our…” 10-K, Feb 13, 2026
- investing in brand “We rely on the value of our brands, and the costs of maintaining and enhancing our brand awareness are increasing.” 10-K, Feb 13, 2026
- investing in brand “We invest considerable financial and human resources in our brands in order to retain and expand our customer base in existing and emerging markets. We expect that the cost of maintaining and enhancing our brands will continue to increase and decisions we make on investing in…” 10-K, Feb 13, 2026
- measurement “Our efforts to preserve and enhance consumer awareness of our brands may not be successful, may have unintended negative impacts, or, even if successful may not be cost-effective, or as efficient as they have been historically, resulting in less direct traffic and increased…” 10-K, Feb 13, 2026
Say vs do
Expedia has made 1 statement about its marketing budget for a year that isn't filed yet; the verdict comes with that 10-K.
What they said
“We had the substantial reductions in marketing spend and driving out inefficient spend, but also redirecting spend to more productive channels.”
Management on the 2026 Q2 earnings call, Aug 12, 2026 · transcript
Too early to check FY2026 isn't filed yet.
“We grew our bookings 8% while leveraging marketing spend, which was only up 1%.”
Management on the 2026 Q2 earnings call, Aug 12, 2026 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about part of a year; filings report full years.
“AI has helped us do this. It's helped us do more tests, deliver more gains across both paid and unpaid channels.”
Management on the 2026 Q1 earnings call, May 8, 2026 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings Filings don't split brand from performance or report spend by channel.
“our consumer business grew about 10% this quarter, the strongest growth in nearly 8 years, while we've cut marketing spend in the consumer business 7%.”
Management on the 2026 Q1 earnings call, May 8, 2026 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about part of the business; filings report one company-wide number.
What they did
| Year | Marketing spend | Change | Share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $3.90B | -2.5% | 26.5% |
| FY2024 | $4.00B | +5.3% | 29.2% |
| FY2023 | $3.80B | -2.6% | 29.6% |
| FY2022 | $3.90B | +44.4% | 33.4% |
| FY2021 | $2.70B | +125.0% | 31.4% |
| FY2020 | $1.20B | -65.7% | 23.1% |
Against its peers. Compared with the 5 other Travel advertisers we track (Booking Holdings, Airbnb, Marriott, Royal Caribbean, Carnival): since 2019 its marketing spend went +11% (peer median +26%); its share of revenue moved -2.5 pts (median -1.4); last year -2.5% (median +5.1%).
In interviews, its leaders made 35 statements about marketing: 2 argued for investing in brand and 0 for cutting.
How we check: a statement gets a verdict only when it's clearly about the size of the whole company's marketing budget over a full fiscal year; we compare it with the advertising and marketing expense in that year's 10-K. Statements about one quarter, one brand or channel, or the mix between brand and performance can't be checked against annual filings.
What they say about media
The marketing channels it talks about using for itself on earnings calls and in its 10-Ks and 10-Qs, since 2019; counts are statements, not spending.
- Measurement “In our consumer business, our sharper measurement and targeting capabilities are allowing us to invest in the highest return opportunities and leverage our marketing spend.” Ariane Gorin on the earnings call · Aug 12, 2026 · source
- SEO & AI search “When I think about organic traffic, and I'm going to bucket together SEO and AEO, for us, organic search traffic is stable to slightly up.” Ariane Gorin on the earnings call · Aug 12, 2026 · source
- Creative campaigns · Sponsorships & athletes · Influencers & creators “On brand spend, on Expedia, we just last week did a partnership with a big creator, big YouTuber Speed, which is really all about getting after the Gen Z audience.” Ariane Gorin on the earnings call · May 8, 2026 · source
- AI in marketing “Certainly, on brand, we're getting benefits and leverage from using AI and creative and the like.” Ariane Gorin on the earnings call · May 8, 2026 · source
- Affiliate & lead gen “We also generate advertising revenue from trivago, a leading hotel metasearch website.” 10-Q · May 9, 2025 · source
What they see in the market
What its leaders and filings say about the ad market: its own ad business, or the channels advertisers use, since 2019; counts are statements, not spending.
- CRM, loyalty & first-party data “The performance of our top tier loyalty members, so silver and above, did really well both in bookings and then also in retention.” Ariane Gorin on the earnings call · Aug 12, 2026 · source
- Measurement “It's not just that measurement that allows us to better understand incrementality and returns.” Ariane Gorin on the earnings call · Aug 12, 2026 · source
- AI in marketing “They're developing these agentic systems to create personalized ads at scale, both using our technology and using third-party technology.” Ariane Gorin on the earnings call · Aug 12, 2026 · source
- Paid search “And to the extent that the market evolves in that way and it becomes more of a paid advertising, that's a space we know well.” Ariane Gorin on the earnings call · May 8, 2026 · source
- Creative campaigns “launching new ad solutions.” 10-Q · May 9, 2025 · source
In the news
- How Expedia restructured its marketing for the AI era—6 moves worth copying Ad Age · paywall · Sep 28, 2026 · AI in marketing
- Departure Lounge becomes a national sponsor of the Human Rights Campaign Travel Weekly · Sep 28, 2026 · sponsorship