Spending on ads to continue growing despite traditional media decline
Spending on advertising will pass £20bn for first time in 2019 thanks to the boost in the digital market and despite the decline of ads in traditional media such as TV and newspapers.
A report from the media company GroupM found that UK advertising market is relying on tech giants such as Google and Facebook for growth. The amount spent on internet advertising will grow 8.6% next year to £12.8bn and the total UK ad market will rise 4.8% to £20.8bn.
“Digital is now around 60% of all advertising investment and accounts for all net UK advertising growth,” said Adam Smith, the futures director of GroupM. “Digital [is] commanding a rising share of overall marketing effort from a wider base of marketers large and small.”
GroupM, part of WPP, said that overall spending on traditional media will fall 0.7% next year. TV advertising is expected to remain flat in 2018, and to show only 1% growth in 2019. Print spending continues to shrink will continue to shrink. In 2017, newsbrands made up 12.5% of all ad investment; in 2018 that had fallen to 11.1%. The estimate for 2019 is that this share will drop to 9.8%.
Radio is maintaining audiences, GroupM predicts revenue will be up 10% in 2018, and 7% next year. Radio owners will book about £500 million in spot revenue in 2018
According to Nielsen, key TV categories soft this year include food, household, retail, entertainment & leisure. Finance (TV’s largest category) and motors (fifth) are growing high-single-digit in the year to September.
“Collaboration and measurement remain key topics for the UK alongside Brexit and GDPR in our advertising forecast for 2019, but in a sea-of-change advertising investment stays buoyant reaching unprecedented levels,” said Tom George, CEO, GroupM UK.
“It’s encouraging to see the industry pulling together to create new and improved investment propositions. GroupM is highly engaged with all of these efforts to ensure our clients continue to effectively engage consumers.”