UK adspend grows at fastest rate since 2010
October 28, 2014
Advertising expenditure in the UK grew at its fastest rate in three years during the second quarter of 2014 according to data from the Advertising Association and Warc.
The latest Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report – a definitive measure of advertising activity in the UK – showed adspend increasing at 8.5 per cent year-on-year to reach £4.515 billion (€5.7bn) for the quarter.
This was the highest growth since the third quarter of 2010, and significantly ahead of the overall economy which was up 3.2 per cent year on year to Q2 2014. The Report revised upwards its earlier full-year forecast, by 0.4 percentage points to 6.4 per cent.
“Growth at twice the rate of UK GDP is quite a headline,” said Tim Lefroy, Chief Executive at the Advertising Association, “but the real story is of digital and creative leadership in e-commerce.”
The summer World Cup in Brazil also helped, with TV spot advertising surging ahead 10.7 per cent year on year to a Q2 total of £1.118 billion; overall first half growth of 8.3 per cent is not expected to be sustained for the second half, with a lower figure of 6.7 per cent predicted.
Double digit growth figures were recorded by two other channels as well. Radio was up 17.7 per cent to £119 million, and with annual growth projected to be 8.3 per cent, the report said this would be the sector’s best performance since 2000.
Internet adspend increased 17.2 per cent in Q2 and AA/Warc anticipated overall growth of 15.1 per cent in 2014. Expectations for mobile growth, however, were moderated down from July’s forecast of 75 per cent to 56 per cent.
While digital expenditure has been growing across the nation’s news and magazine brands it has not reached sufficient momentum to offset the decline in print.