MarTech Estimated to Occupy Almost One-Quarter of Budgets in the UK and North America

October 2, 2018

The global marketing technology industry is estimated to be essentially a $100 billion market ($99.9 billion to be precise), according to a new report [download page] from Moore Stephens and WARC. Slightly more than half of that market value – or $52 billion – is concentrated in the UK and North America, per the study, up from $34.3 billion last year.

That concentration is due to brands in the UK and North American apportioning ever-higher budgets to marketing technology. This year these brands are allocating almost one-quarter of their budgets to martech, up from 16% last year.

These brands are also increasingly shifting their marketing technology budgets in-house. This year’s study finds that close to two-thirds (63%) of technology budgets in North America are being spent in-house, up from less than half last year. This is attributed to “a desire from brands to excel in their customer experience, coupled with an element of mistrust in agencies.”

North America appears to be leading the way for in-house marketing technology spend, as other regions (UK, APAC, Europe) are dedicating about half of their spend to in-house technology.

(For the purposes of the report, marketing technology was defined as “a tool that you use to assist with marketing workflows; customer acquisition and retention; brand and communications; content and social; or data and analytics.”)

MarTech Spending to Continue Rising

In line with other research into this topic, the Moore Stephens and Warc report indicates that most brands and agencies will continue to hike their spending on technology.

Half of the survey’s respondents in North America plan to increase their marketing technology budget over the coming year, as do roughly half (49%) of those in the UK. Expectations for budget increases are even higher among respondents in APAC (58%) and Europe, excluding the UK (63%).

MarTech Budgets Affect Media Spend For Most

Only 1 in 4 respondents in North America reports that increased investment in marketing technology hasn’t affected their media spending – and even fewer feel that way in the UK.

The effect doesn’t have to be negative, but sometimes it is. Within North America, slightly more respondents say that increased martech investments have resulted in decreased (40%) rather than increased (35%) media spending. The same is true in the UK, where martech budget hikes are slightly more apt to have resulted in decreased (48%) than increased (43%) media budgets.

The differences are far more acute in other regions, though. Fully 7 in 10 respondents in the Asia-Pacific region say that increased martech investments have led to a decrease in media spend, and a majority (55%) of respondents in Europe, excluding the UK, concur.

About the Data: The results are based on an online survey of more than 800 brands and agencies based in the Americas, Europe and APAC.

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