Marketers Expect 2024 To Be Better for Business

Despite very real concerns about the economy, the majority of marketers (61%) are optimistic and expect business to be better next year than the current year, according to The Voice of the Marketer 2024, a new report by WARC released today.

With global marketing investment set to increase 8.2% in 2024 to top $1trn for the first time, per WARC Media, the report illustrates the ongoing investment trend towards digital channels. However, when exploring measurement techniques for marketing investment, more than a fifth (22%) of marketers employ no form of modelling in their evaluation processes.

Isabel Cleaver, Senior Analyst, WARC, says: “The aim of this report is to offer more insight into what is top of mind for marketers moving into 2024, particularly around investment, media channels and measurement.

“A significant finding from our survey analysis is that while marketers are concerned about the impact of an economic recession, there is also a sense of optimism regarding the business climate and marketing budgets for 2024.”

 

The key findings outlined in The Voice of the Marketer 2024 based on survey analysis of 1,400+ marketers worldwide are:

61% of marketers are optimistic despite economic worries

For the second year running, two-thirds (64%) of marketers indicated that economic recession is seen to have the biggest impact on marketing strategies in 2024, with 41% highlighting inflation and the cost-of-living crisis as the biggest challenges they face over the next 12 months.

Yet almost two-thirds of marketers (61%) expect that business will improve in 2024 and 41% believe that marketing budgets will increase next year. In Europe and North America, just over a third expect budgets to be higher in 2024 (37% and 35% respectively). In contrast, half of marketers (50%) in APAC expect budgets to grow next year.

It would appear that more marketers understand that maintaining or even increasing investment in brand marketing can be effective in navigating economic downturns.

Investment in digital channels – especially online video – expected to grow

An ongoing migration to spend on digital channels continues. Marketers are planning to increase investments in social media, online video and mobile, with spend expected to mostly stay the same or decrease in traditional channels like print, cinema and TV.

TikTok and YouTube are the platforms expected to receive the biggest increases in marketing spend in 2024. By contrast, the many controversies surrounding X (formerly Twitter) have severely impacted perceptions of the company among marketers. One third of marketers (31%) expect to decrease investments in X in 2024 - the highest decrease observed over the past three years.

Confidence in the metaverse has also decreased significantly. While nearly half (47%) of marketers said they expected to increase investment in the metaverse in 2023, only a tenth (11%) expect to do so next year.