Earned & PaidUber
Uber spent $2.20B on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025, up 15.8% on the year before and +69% since 2019. That's 4.2% 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 the 10-K says about marketing
- strategy “We believe that Freight is revolutionizing the logistics industry. Freight powers a managed transportation and logistics network and connects Shippers and Carriers in a digital marketplace to move shipments while leveraging our proprietary technology, brand awareness, and…” 10-K, Feb 13, 2026
Say vs do
We found no statement about the size of Uber'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 | $2.20B | +15.8% | 4.2% |
| FY2024 | $1.90B | +11.8% | 4.3% |
| FY2023 | $1.70B | 0.0% | 4.6% |
| FY2022 | $1.70B | 0.0% | 5.3% |
| FY2021 | $1.70B | +70.0% | 9.7% |
| FY2020 | $1.00B | -23.1% | 9.0% |
In interviews, its leaders made 146 statements about marketing: 4 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.
- SEO & AI search “And every time we add a merchant, the -- because we have more diversity of choice, average conversion tends to improve for consumers who are kind of searching for their favorite restaurant or favorite dessert place, and each merchant gives us actually another item to market…” Dara Khosrowshahi on the earnings call · Aug 6, 2024 · source
- Retail media “They advertise on Instacart.” Dara Khosrowshahi on the earnings call · Feb 7, 2024 · source
- Measurement “The return that they get on their ad spend ranges from seven to nine times return on ad spend.” Dara Khosrowshahi on the earnings call · Aug 1, 2023 · source
- CRM, loyalty & first-party data “Sales and marketing expenses decreased $33 million, or 1%, primarily attributable to a $227 million decrease in consumer discounts, rider facing loyalty expense, promotions, credits and refunds to $2.2 billion compared to $2.4 billion in 2021, partially offset by a $152 million…” 10-K · Feb 21, 2023 · 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.
- Retail media “And then we're really focused on our sponsored listing product. This is for groceries.” Dara Khosrowshahi on the earnings call · Oct 31, 2024 · source
- Creative campaigns · Out-of-home “We are -- we recently announced a partnership with T-Mobile Advertising Solutions to bring our Journey TV offerings to about 50,000 vehicles across the U.S.” Dara Khosrowshahi on the earnings call · Oct 31, 2024 · source
- Measurement “The contribution of advertising is very, very positive in terms of newer ad formats that we are introducing, improving targeting capabilities, and then also investments in measurement and attribution for our ad partners.” Dara Khosrowshahi on the earnings call · Aug 6, 2024 · source
- Paid search “The focus for us with sponsored listings right now is increasing the number of monetizable impressions per user session through introducing new ad formats and placements and really increasing the monetization of search in a smart way that doesn't hurt the core consumer…” Dara Khosrowshahi on the earnings call · Aug 6, 2024 · source
- CRM, loyalty & first-party data “For grocery products, for example, is to integrate their membership and loyalty programs into Uber Eats so that their loyalty, their loyalty consumers can go direct or they can grow at and kind of in that way, they get to build the relationship with those loyalty members as well.” Dara Khosrowshahi on the earnings call · Nov 7, 2023 · source
In the news
- Uber Eats turns fans rituals into the heart of its new campaign with LALIGA Roastbrief US · Sep 29, 2026 · campaign
- Uber - PRINGA — LBB LBB - Little Black Book · Sep 29, 2026 · agency move
- From fan friction to high intent: How Uber maps commerce media to everyday life Mumbrella · Sep 28, 2026 · platforms & adtech
- Special Sydney wins APAC Grand Effie adnews.com.au · Sep 28, 2026 · marketing
Agency moves
- Uber - PRINGA — LBB Sep 29, 2026