Earned & PaidAT&T
AT&T spent $3.10B on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025, up 24.0% on the year before and -49% since 2019. That's 2.5% 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.
Say vs do
We found no statement about the size of AT&T's marketing budget on its earnings calls or in its 10-Ks, so here is its record against its peers.
What they said
No statement about the size of its marketing budget.
What they did
| Year | Marketing spend | Change | Share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $3.10B | +24.0% | 2.5% |
| FY2024 | $2.50B | -2.8% | 2.0% |
| FY2023 | $2.58B | +4.6% | 2.1% |
| FY2022 | $2.46B | -9.9% | 2.0% |
| FY2021 | $2.73B | +1.0% | 2.0% |
| FY2020 | $2.71B | -55.8% | 1.9% |
Against its peers. Compared with the 2 other Telecom advertisers we track (Verizon, T-Mobile): since 2019 its marketing spend went -49% (peer median +78%); its share of revenue moved -0.9 pts (median +0.5); last year +24.0% (median +7.9%).
In interviews, its leaders made 146 statements about marketing: 10 argued for investing in brand and 1 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.
- Connected TV & streaming “And we think that opens up marketing channel and awareness channel, and ultimately an opportunity to drive penetration in -- in other places where, again, customers are a bit more price-sensitive.” John Stankey on the earnings call · Apr 22, 2021 · source
- Sponsorships & athletes “We like our engagement with the NBA.” John Stankey on the earnings call · Oct 28, 2020 · source
- Programmatic & display “Much of AT&T's programmatic spending is moving to the Xandr platform, driving efficiencies on how we activate campaigns.” John Stephens on the earnings call · Jan 30, 2019 · 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.
- Creative campaigns “You probably maybe noticed that it may not be a golfer, but you noticed during the masters, we kind of previewed some of our advertising that we'll be coming out on the product that's geared toward the business market segment.” John Stankey on the earnings call · Apr 24, 2024 · source
- Linear TV “With the close of the DIRECTV transaction, WarnerMedia continues to represent and sell DIRECTV's advertising inventory and now compensates DIRECTV through a revenue-share arrangement.” Pascal Desroches on the earnings call · Oct 22, 2021 · source
- Connected TV & streaming “So, it's a really important, strategic issue for us to have an ability to use advertising and a scaled advertising play as a means to offer other products and services.” John Stankey on the earnings call · Oct 28, 2020 · source
- Programmatic & display “We're making progress integrating the Xandr marketplace across all of AT&T.” John J. Stephens on the earnings call · Apr 24, 2019 · source
In the news
- Pocket Drama: The New AT&T Commercial & Its Actress Auralcrave · Sep 28, 2026 · campaign