The latest Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report shows UK ad spend increased 9.3% to £9.2bn during the first three months of 2024 – setting a new high for a first quarter period. Data reveals this rise was almost three percentage points (pp) ahead of forecast, due to stronger-than-expected online growth, with online formats accounting for 79.7% of all UK spend in Q1 2024.
The new AA/WARC forecasts expect UK ad spend to rise 9.2% in Q2 (April to July) this year to reach £9.7bn, a result of increased spending around the Men’s Euros and snap General Election. This would equate to a rise of 9.3% during the first half of 2024, to a total of £18.9bn.
Expectations for both 2024 and 2025 have seen an uplift in the latest dataset. The UK advertising market is now expected to grow by 7.7% to reach £39.4bn this year, an upgrade of 1.9 percentage points (pp) since AA/WARC’s April forecast, owing to strong digital results and increased investment around Euro 2024. Overall, this year, channels expected to see a boost include Out of Home (+12.5%), Search (+10.1%) and Radio (+5.5%). Advertising spend on the Broadcaster Video On-Demand (BVOD) portion of TV is set to cross the £1bn threshold for the first time (an increase of 13.7%), driven by a strong summer of sport including demand from the Men’s Euros, and to a slightly lesser extent, the upcoming Olympics and Paralympics.
A further rise of 5.5% is expected in 2025, by when the UK’s advertising market is set to reach £41.6bn, an upgrade of 1.0pp from the April forecast.
Source: Warc
