US Ad Spend for Oil & Gas Companies Cool in 2023

Key Takeaways:

• In 2023, Chevron and Shell were the largest advertisers amongst the cohort, accounting for 33% and 26% of spend, respectively. Shell’s US advertising is also notable as it saw the largest jump in YoY ad spend across the cohort, up ~80% YoY, while numerous brands actually started to pull back after the aggressive surge in spend over the past couple of years, including Chevron

• In 2023, the energy cohort saw an 80% YoY increase in US downloads for their fuel reward apps (ex-Chevron), the strongest growth exhibited over the past few years (+32% YoY in 2022 and +25% YoY in 2021)

  • Chevron’s download growth is an outlier amongst the energy cohort, a trend that is also reflected in MAU growth. As Chevron averaged ~450% YoY growth in US downloads in 2023, its MAUs spiked by ~600% YoY. This past year, Chevron's fuel rewards app also saw an increase in paid downloads, up 9ppts from 2022. Chevron’s high volume of paid downloads could be attributed to the fact that it's the only company within the cohort to leverage mobile ad networks, topping off with Google’s AdMob at 0.43% SOV and Digital Turbine at 0.34% SOV in 2023

• In 2H23, LinkedIn (which was added to Pathmatics by Sensor Tower in May’23) was the largest channel by ad spend, accounting for 28% of spend across the cohort. Chevron, Shell, and Exxon Mobil allocated the largest percentage of their digital ad spend to LinkedIn with 44%, 36% and 19% of spend, respectively

For more information, request the full report from reports@sensortower.com.