Earned & PaidVerizon
Verizon spent $3.83B on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025, down 3.6% on the year before and +25% since 2019. That's 2.8% 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
“Lower churn also makes our marketing dollars work harder because we are not simply replacing customers who leave, we are adding to a more stable base.”Daniel Schulman · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“I think like pricing is the last refuge of the marketing desperate.”Daniel Schulman · 2025 Q3 · transcript
“This is not going to be about promotional activities that can be quickly imitated. It is about true innovation, not easily replicated by our competitors.”Daniel Schulman · 2025 Q3 · transcript
“We will invest significantly across all elements of our marketing mix and customer experience to drive mobility and broadband growth, and we will fund these investments by aggressively reducing our entire cost base.”Daniel Schulman · 2025 Q3 · transcript
Say vs do
Verizon'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
“We will invest significantly across all elements of our marketing mix and customer experience to drive mobility and broadband growth, and we will fund these investments by aggressively reducing our entire cost base.”
Daniel Schulman on the 2025 Q3 earnings call, Apr 14, 2026 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about several years, not one we can check.
What they did
| Year | Marketing spend | Change | Share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $3.83B | -3.6% | 2.8% |
| FY2024 | $3.98B | +3.4% | 3.0% |
| FY2023 | $3.85B | +8.2% | 2.9% |
| FY2022 | $3.56B | +4.8% | 2.6% |
| FY2021 | $3.39B | +9.2% | 2.5% |
| FY2020 | $3.11B | +1.2% | 2.4% |
Against its peers. Compared with the 2 other Telecom advertisers we track (AT&T, T-Mobile): since 2019 its marketing spend went +25% (peer median +41%); its share of revenue moved +0.4 pts (median -0.2); last year -3.6% (median +21.7%).
In interviews, its leaders made 150 statements about marketing: 6 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.
- Creative campaigns “• a decrease of $193 million in advertising costs related to various marketing campaigns in the first half of 2025 that did not reoccur.” 10-Q · Jul 31, 2026 · 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.
- Programmatic & display “Growth in the quarter was fueled by strong advertising trends growing 26%, including 45% growth in DSP revenues.” Matthew D. Ellis on the earnings call · Apr 21, 2021 · source
- Paid search “Things like search revenue continue to be a headwind and will likely continue to be so.” Matthew D. Ellis on the earnings call · Apr 21, 2021 · source
- Sponsorships & athletes · Experiential & events “Verizon Media expanded our partnerships and increased our commitment to build advertising inventory in new and emerging formats and launched live events with Watch Together and Yahoo Sports PlayAR.” Matthew D. Ellis on the earnings call · Oct 21, 2020 · source