Earned & PaidProgressive
Progressive spent $5.13B on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025, up 28.2% on the year before and +179% since 2019. That's 5.8% of revenue, more than in 2019: leaning in.
Marketing spend by year
Bars: advertising and marketing expense, $B (10-K). Line: spend as a share of revenue.
What they told investors
“And then we have a lot of ability to flex both ways.”Susan Patricia Griffith · 2024 Q4 · transcript
“While direct channel new application growth responded almost immediately to our increase in media spend and the release of non-rate actions earlier in the year, as evidenced by the channel's stronger new business growth in Q2.”Susan Patricia Griffith · 2024 Q3 · transcript
“But really, you want to have that consistent media spend and have -- and be prepared for that response and that shopping that we believe and normally typically happens in that first quarter.”Susan Patricia Griffith · 2024 Q3 · transcript
“So we feel good about where we're at right now with CPS below TAC.”Susan Patricia Griffith · 2024 Q3 · transcript
“And the last couple of years, unfortunately, we've had to pull back because of margins.”Susan Patricia Griffith · 2024 Q3 · transcript
“We've seen some of our competitors, for sure, start to spend more on media.”Susan Patricia Griffith · 2024 Q3 · transcript
Say vs do
Progressive's management has talked about its marketing budget, but in ways annual filings can't check: one quarter, one brand or channel, or the mix.
What they said
“While direct channel new application growth responded almost immediately to our increase in media spend and the release of non-rate actions earlier in the year, as evidenced by the channel's stronger new business growth in Q2.”
Susan Patricia Griffith, President and Chief Executive Officer on the 2024 Q3 earnings call, Nov 5, 2024 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about part of the business; filings report one company-wide number.
“And the last couple of years, unfortunately, we've had to pull back because of margins.”
Susan Patricia Griffith, President and Chief Executive Officer on the 2024 Q3 earnings call, Nov 5, 2024 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about part of the business; filings report one company-wide number.
“Getting a more efficient return on every visitor to Progressive allows us to increase our media spend while still hitting our target economics.”
Sean Freeman, Business Leader, Direct Progressive Agency Experience on the 2023 Q4 earnings call, Feb 27, 2024 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about part of the business; filings report one company-wide number.
“This is a reflection of our self-imposed pullback in media spend as we seek to manage our combined ratio through the acquisition expense ratio and find the right balance in cohort pricing, which we talked about at length in our last quarterly call.”
Tricia Griffith, Chief Executive Officer on the 2023 Q3 earnings call, Nov 1, 2023 · 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 | $5.13B | +28.2% | 5.8% |
| FY2024 | $4.00B | +150.2% | 5.3% |
| FY2023 | $1.60B | -21.3% | 2.6% |
| FY2022 | $2.03B | -5.0% | 4.1% |
| FY2021 | $2.14B | -1.7% | 4.5% |
| FY2020 | $2.18B | +18.5% | 5.1% |
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.
- Linear TV “We look at our budget for media at the beginning of the year, and we work with Pat's team on upfront buys and things that we know we need to put into the system that we have to be very thoughtful about for the year.” Susan Patricia Griffith on the earnings call · Mar 4, 2025 · source
- CRM, loyalty & first-party data “So we want to get as many new apps in the door as possible through our -- obviously, our increased media spend.” Susan Patricia Griffith on the earnings call · Nov 5, 2024 · source
- Creative campaigns · Paid search · SEO & AI search “We want to be on the shortlist and then the local marketing really through most of the online search.” Tricia Griffith on the earnings call · Aug 3, 2022 · source
- Measurement · Affiliate & lead gen “And when we look at the difference between agency and direct as far as like a PLE, we see that direct has gone down less, and we think that has to do with the brand.” Tricia Griffith on the earnings call · May 3, 2022 · source
- Programmatic & display “Gary, to that I would add, you know, much of our advertising is mass media, but a massive portion of our advertising spend is in digital media, and that can be sort of display stuff, but it is increasingly what we call digital auctions, and there are multiple digital auction…” John Sauerland on the earnings call · May 5, 2021 · source
In the news
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