Earned & PaidTesla
Tesla spent $58M on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2015, up 18.4% on the year before. That's 1.4% of revenue.
Marketing spend by year
Bars: advertising and marketing expense, $B (10-K). Line: spend as a share of revenue. Years where the filing's revenue line isn't comparable are left out of the line.
What the 10-K says about marketing
- measurement “We market and sell our solar and energy storage products to residential, commercial and industrial customers and utilities through a variety of channels, including through our website, stores and galleries, as well as through our network of channel partners, and in the case of…” 10-K, Jan 29, 2026
Say vs do
We found no statement about the size of Tesla'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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2015 | $58M | +18.4% | 1.4% |
| FY2014 | $49M | +444.4% | 1.5% |
| FY2013 | $9M | +125.0% | 0.5% |
| FY2012 | $4M | +33.3% | 0.9% |
| FY2011 | $3M | 0.0% | 1.4% |
| FY2010 | $3M | +50.0% | 2.7% |
Against its peers. Compared with the 2 other Auto advertisers we track (General Motors, Ford): last year +18.4% (median -0.9%).
In interviews, its leaders made 25 statements about marketing: 1 argued for investing in brand and 3 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.
- Creative campaigns “Will you expand educational ads?” Martin Viecha on the earnings call · Jan 24, 2024 · source
- Programmatic & display “So, in Q4, we ran a series of digital campaigns -- very targeted digital campaigns across different geos and different channels.” Unknown speaker on the earnings call · Jan 24, 2024 · source
- Measurement “The target of these tests is really just to drive awareness and ultimately measure the return on investment on those digital channels.” Unknown speaker on the earnings call · Jan 24, 2024 · source
- Influencers & creators “Can Elon do an interview with one of our YouTube channels once or twice a year?” Martin Viecha on the earnings call · Jul 27, 2021 · source
- Affiliate & lead gen “Such media coverage and word of mouth are the current primary drivers of our sales leads and have helped us achieve sales without traditional advertising and at relatively low marketing costs.” 10-K · Feb 13, 2020 · source