Survey: UK media buyers predict ad spend bounce-back
July 28, 2020
Research from FreeWheel, a Comcast Company, finds media buyers are confident about ad spend bounce-back in most sectors in the coming months.
The survey targeting media agencies, DSPs and direct advertisers, looked at buy-side perceptions of advertising in the UK, France and Germany in the current environment. When asked whether specific sectors would see a resumption in ad spend, UK respondents were most positive about the food industry (100 per cent) and the tech sector (77 per cent).
When asked about other sectors, two-thirds were confident about the return of ad spend in the telecoms (68 per cent), beauty (65 per cent), and financial services sectors (61 per cent). Over half (55 per cent) of respondents expressed confidence about an ad spend bounce-back for automotive.
Confidence across the three regions as a whole was slightly more cautious than in the UK when it came to ad spend on food (84 per cent), technology (65 per cent), and beauty (53 per cent). The one area that bucked this trend was travel, where almost half (49 per cent) expected spending to resume, as opposed to 35 per cent in the UK.
The survey also asked media buyers what they thought advertising strategies would look like in the coming months. An overwhelming majority of UK respondents (68 per cent) expected advertisers to invest the most in TV broadcasting and over-the-top video. In addition to this, over half of respondents (55 per cent) planned to allocate more than 10 per cent of their budgets towards ‘new TV’ or digital / advanced TV, which includes set-top-boxes, video-on-demand, over-the-top, addressable TV, and internet protocol TV.
The survey also indicated a move to more targeted or addressable techniques in general, with a third (31 per cent) of respondents expecting to rely more heavily on data-based targeting.
Virginie Dremeaux, Executive Director, Product and Sales Marketing International, FreeWheel, commented: “The advertising industry is entering a new phase after a long period of uncertainty. Our research hopefully provides reassurance as media buyers have expressed cross-sector confidence about ad spend. The study also provides insights into future media spend. Specifically, TV looks to remain a mainstay for media buyers, with an added focus on data-driven strategies, which indicates a focus on quality and return on investment for clients.”