---
title: "2017 AFDR Highlights: Recruitment Budgets - Where the Money Goes"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/4666fe1f-255d-4f11-81b7-3e7fe6b6300d
source: "Franchising.com"
original_url: https://www.franchising.com/articles/2017_afdr_highlights_recruitment_budgets__where_the_money_goes.html
author: "Eddy Goldberg"
category: "Franchise Industry"
industry: "Franchise Industry"
topics: ["Finance & M&A"]
published: 2017-01-02T11:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:11:46.988Z
image: https://imgs.franchising.com/art/articles/3327_plate.jpg
---

# 2017 AFDR Highlights: Recruitment Budgets - Where the Money Goes

**TL;DR:** The 2017 Annual Franchise Development Report highlights recruitment budgets and strategies of franchisors, with 49% of spending allocated to digital.

*By Eddy Goldberg, originally published in Franchising.com on 2017-01-02. [Read the original](https://www.franchising.com/articles/2017_afdr_highlights_recruitment_budgets__where_the_money_goes.html).*

## Story

This is the second in a series of highlights from the 2017 Annual Franchise Development Report (AFDR). The 2017 AFDR, unveiled in late September at the Franchise Leadership & Development Conference, is based on responses from 167 franchisors representing 60,989 units (51,789 franchised and 9,200 company-owned). Participants in the survey consisted of franchisors that completed an extensive online questionnaire.

Responses were aggregated and analyzed to produce a detailed look into the recruitment and development practices, budgets, and strategies of a wide cross-section of franchisors. The data and accompanying commentary and analysis provide the basis of the 2017 AFDR (ordering information is below). **This week: Recruitment budgets: Where the money goes, by category.

** Planned allocation of respondents' 2017 recruitment budgets remained essentially the same as in previous years, with some variation in print and trade show spending. At 49 percent, spending on digital continues to increase, and is expected to continue growing and account for half or more of all recruitment spending this year. One reason: prospects' use of mobile devices to explore franchise opportunities continues on its own growth trajectory.

## Entities

- Franchising.com (publication)
- Franchise Industry (sector)
- franchise development (topic)
- Eddy Goldberg (person)
- recruitment budgets (topic)
- digital spending (topic)

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Originally reported by Eddy Goldberg, Franchising.com (https://www.franchising.com/articles/2017_afdr_highlights_recruitment_budgets__where_the_money_goes.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/4666fe1f-255d-4f11-81b7-3e7fe6b6300d).