Block (Square, Cash App) advertising spend, FY2025

Block (Square, Cash App) (XYZ) reported $478M of advertising expense for the fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2025. That is 2.0% of revenue of $24.2B. Up 41.5% from FY2024.

Ad spend, FY2025
$478M
year ended Dec 31, 2025
Change vs prior year
+41.5%
vs FY2024
Share of revenue
2.0%
of $24.2B revenue
Rank by ad spend
#132
of 336 companies

Key facts

  • Ad spend is 8.2x its FY2015 level ($58.3M), slower than revenue (19x).
  • The highest year on file is FY2022 at $544M; FY2025 is 12% below it.
  • Largest increase +93.9% in FY2021; largest cut -33.8% in FY2023.
  • Ad spend is 2.0% of revenue, down from 2.4% in FY2020.
  • Block (Square, Cash App) spends more on advertising than 61% of the 336 US-listed companies tracked. Its ad-to-revenue ratio is below the median of 5.2%.

Ad spend by fiscal year

$0 $200M $400M $600M FY2014 (ended 2014-12-31): $45.1M FY2015 (ended 2015-12-31): $58.3M 2015 FY2016 (ended 2016-12-31): $58.3M FY2017 (ended 2017-12-31): $81.9M 2017 FY2018 (ended 2018-12-31): $102M FY2019 (ended 2019-12-31): $143M 2019 FY2020 (ended 2020-12-31): $225M FY2021 (ended 2021-12-31): $436M 2021 FY2022 (ended 2022-12-31): $544M FY2023 (ended 2023-12-31): $360M 2023 FY2024 (ended 2024-12-31): $338M FY2025 (ended 2025-12-31): $478M 2025 $478M

Ad spend as % of revenue

0% 2% 4% 6% FY2014 (ended 2014-12-31): 5.3% FY2015 (ended 2015-12-31): 4.6% 2015 FY2016 (ended 2016-12-31): 3.4% FY2017 (ended 2017-12-31): 3.7% 2017 FY2018 (ended 2018-12-31): 3.1% FY2019 (ended 2019-12-31): 3.0% 2019 FY2020 (ended 2020-12-31): 2.4% FY2021 (ended 2021-12-31): 2.5% 2021 FY2022 (ended 2022-12-31): 3.1% FY2023 (ended 2023-12-31): 1.6% 2023 FY2024 (ended 2024-12-31): 1.4% FY2025 (ended 2025-12-31): 2.0% 2025 2.0%

History

Download CSV
Fiscal year Period end Ad spend YoY Revenue Ad / revenue Tag Filing
FY2025 Dec 31, 2025 $478M +41.5% $24.2B 2.0% AdvertisingExpense 10-K Feb 26, 2026
FY2024 Dec 31, 2024 $338M -6.1% $24.1B 1.4% AdvertisingExpense 10-K Feb 26, 2026
FY2023 Dec 31, 2023 $360M -33.8% $21.9B 1.6% AdvertisingExpense 10-K Feb 26, 2026
FY2022 Dec 31, 2022 $544M +24.9% $17.5B 3.1% AdvertisingExpense 10-K Feb 24, 2025
FY2021 Dec 31, 2021 $436M +93.9% $17.7B 2.5% AdvertisingExpense 10-K Feb 22, 2024
FY2020 Dec 31, 2020 $225M +57.5% $9.5B 2.4% AdvertisingExpense 10-K Feb 23, 2023
FY2019 Dec 31, 2019 $143M +40.0% $4.7B 3.0% AdvertisingExpense 10-K Feb 24, 2022
FY2018 Dec 31, 2018 $102M +24.4% $3.3B 3.1% AdvertisingExpense 10-K Feb 23, 2021
FY2017 Dec 31, 2017 $81.9M +40.5% $2.2B 3.7% AdvertisingExpense 10-K Feb 26, 2020
FY2016 Dec 31, 2016 $58.3M 0.0% $1.7B 3.4% AdvertisingExpense 10-K Feb 27, 2019
FY2015 Dec 31, 2015 $58.3M +29.3% $1.3B 4.6% AdvertisingExpense 10-K Feb 27, 2018
FY2014 Dec 31, 2014 $45.1M n/a $850M 5.3% AdvertisingExpense 10-K Feb 27, 2017

What the figure is

Advertising costs as disclosed in the annual report (XBRL tag AdvertisingExpense).

Compared with similar spenders

The 6 companies closest to Block (Square, Cash App) in latest-year ad spend.

Rank Company Ad spend Ad / revenue YoY Fiscal year
128 Bausch & Lomb $495M 9.7% -6.3% FY2025
129 Ulta Beauty $491M 4.0% +13.8% FY2026
130 NerdWallet $486M 58.1% +31.4% FY2025
131 Maplebear (Instacart) $485M 13.0% +6.1% FY2025
132 Block (Square, Cash App) $478M 2.0% +41.5% FY2025
133 Cimpress $468M 12.5% +4.8% FY2026
134 Brown-Forman $462M 9.1% -4.5% FY2026

Full ranking of 336 companies · Biggest increases #33

Questions

How much does Block (Square, Cash App) spend on advertising?

Block (Square, Cash App) spent $478M on advertising in fiscal 2025, the year ended Dec 31, 2025, according to its 10-K filed Feb 26, 2026.

What percentage of revenue does Block (Square, Cash App) spend on advertising?

2.0% of revenue in fiscal 2025 ($478M of $24.2B). The median across the 336 companies tracked is 5.2%.

Is Block (Square, Cash App) spending more on advertising?

Yes. Ad spend rose 41.5% in fiscal 2025 from fiscal 2024.

How does Block (Square, Cash App) rank by advertising spend?

#132 of 336 US-listed companies with $100M or more in ad spend, ranked on each company's latest fiscal year.

What does Block (Square, Cash App)'s advertising figure include?

Advertising costs as disclosed in the annual report (XBRL tag AdvertisingExpense).

Source

Filing
10-K for FY2025, filed Feb 26, 2026
Accession number
0001628280-26-012254
Company
Block, Inc., CIK 1512673, SIC 7372 (Services-Prepackaged Software)
Data
SEC EDGAR XBRL company facts, retrieved Nov 4, 2026. Methodology.
Cite
Block (Square, Cash App) advertising spend, FY2014-FY2025. Aleksei Trudov, io.trudov.com, from SEC EDGAR XBRL company facts (latest: 10-K filed Feb 26, 2026), retrieved Nov 4, 2026. https://io.trudov.com/company/block/advertising-spend/
Download
CSV, all years · CSV, all 336 companies