Julia Faria
Research lead covering advertising and marketing
B2B advertising and marketing in the United States — statistics & facts
Business-to-business (B2B) advertising and marketing refers to activities to promote brands and companies among business entities such as manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers rather than to the end consumer. Some prominent strategies include trade shows and conferences, where companies can highlight their products, raise brand awareness, and network. In the digital arena, formats such as video, social media ads, webinars, and digital events are at the forefront. Forecasts indicate that the B2B advertising and marketing industry in the United States will continue to grow steadily. By 2026, expenses directed towards such activities will reach an estimated 69 billion U.S. dollars. Similarly, U.S. B2B spending on marketing technology will keep increasing in the future.
In the spotlight
Trade shows — one of the main channels B2B brands can use for promotion purposes — continue to expand. The trade show market in the U.S. was estimated at 15.8 billion dollars in 2024 and is projected to reach 17.4 billion dollars by 2028. According to the same study, roughly one-third of U.S. event marketers were planning to increase their exhibit-marketing budgets in 2024 whereas only 19 percent wanted to decrease them. However, the average number of in-person trade shows where U.S. marketers planned to exhibit declined from 66 in 2023 to 60 in 2024.B2B marketers increment digital strategies
In 2024, offline U.S. B2B advertising and marketing spending was estimated at 39.1 billion dollars and accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total spending. However, marketing professionals are increasingly relying on digital channels. Online U.S. B2B ad and marketing expenses will expand at a faster pace than traditional channels, and the share of digital expenses will reach nearly 39 percent by 2026. This development reflects changes in customer behavior, as the most used B2B purchase channel in the U.S. was the website or app of suppliers in 2023.The role of artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) advancements are opening new possibilities and developments in marketing and advertising. During an August 2023 survey among B2B marketers in the U.S., 58 percent of interviewees were either very or somewhat optimistic regarding the adoption of AI in B2B marketing the following year. The same study also found that the leading ways to deploy AI in B2B marketing were coding, chatbots, and design. Furthermore, one of the areas where artificial intelligence is effective is event marketing. According to a 2023 survey conducted in the United States and selected countries in Western Europe, a quarter of marketers said that AI is applied in events and webinars mainly to increase productivity.
