The first half of 2025 has been eventful for marketers in Europe. AI use is on the rise, shaking up business as usual.1 At the same time, economic uncertainty has many working with leaner advertising budgets.
In Nielsen’s 2025 global marketing survey, we asked European marketers how they’re shifting media advertising budgets, prioritizing their marketing objectives, and utilizing AI technologies to meet their goals. Let’s dig into the numbers to help you understand how to navigate challenges for the rest of the year.
Europeans are reducing budgets & shifting spending
There’s no denying that industries worldwide are working with tighter budgets this year. European marketers are facing unique economic challenges, and at 60%, were most likely to indicate a reduction in ad spend in 2025, in contrast to the 54% global average.
Several factors could be at play here. Challenges from sluggish local economies, trade uncertainties and ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe, and across parts of the Middle East, are creating uncertainty in the European marketplace.
So with budgets shifting, where are businesses finding the most value in their paid media channel spending? Social media stands at the top of digital channels as the most effective, while European marketers consider out-of-home (billboards, signs, etc.) to be the most effective traditional channel at 51%.
There’s clear correlation in digital ad spend and these channels’ perceived effectiveness. Two-thirds of marketing professionals in the region say that digital media channels occupy at least 40% of paid marketing efforts compared to traditional channels. But these trends aren’t necessarily representative of all countries in the region.
Nielsen Ad Intel data shows that advertisers in the U.K. were heavily invested in social media in 2024. However, traditional print media remains a major advertising medium in Germany. Awareness of local market behaviors can help you make smarter spending decisions.
Understanding European marketing objectives
The data is clear—59% of marketers in Europe are overwhelmingly focusing on revenue growth this year. Comparatively, 37% are investing in brand awareness as their primary or secondary priority.
This contrasts with other regions like North America and Asia where marketers are fairly evenly split on their priorities.
They’re also prioritizing customer retention higher than new customer acquisition. These trends may speak to the state of slower local markets.
But despite a higher focus on revenue growth over brand, the region also reports the highest focus on measuring both reach/frequency and ROI at 62%, as opposed to individually — 2% higher than the global average.
Measuring success with tools and technology
While European marketers understand the importance of holistic measurement, when it comes down to measuring across media, the region is lagging. The share of marketers in Europe holistically measuring their digital and traditional media spending was only 23%, the lowest globally.
Measurement technology can help marketers navigate these challenges. But here, Europe was also an outlier globally when ranking priorities for marketing measurement technologies. While all other regions ranked accuracy as the highest priority, European marketers notably ranked cost efficiency and transparency as theirs.
It’s not too surprising seeing cost efficiency at the top considering European marketers’ aggressive focus on revenue growth. In terms of transparency, these marketers may be willing to sacrifice some accuracy and nice-to-have features for reduced costs, but they also want a clear understanding of any limitations in their measurement.
As European marketers look to drive growth and measure success, new tools like AI could also prove useful. Also ranking lowest globally, about two-thirds of respondents indicated that their company frequently uses AI in marketing measurement with quality assurance and predictive analysis being the most used features. Using AI to maximize cost-efficiency is at the forefront of businesses around the world, and the data shows there is certainly more room for European marketers to leverage these technologies to reduce costs and drive results.
Comparing the data
Marketers globally are facing their own unique challenges and prioritizing different strategies to navigate uncertainties in the global marketplace. Discover key strategies for brand building and performance success at our upcoming webinar on Tuesday, July 15.
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1 eMarketer, 2025
