NEWS25 April 2017

Ad expenditure hits £21.4bn in 2016

UK – Ad spend in the UK grew 3.7% in 2016 to reach £21.4bn, according to the Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report.

Laptop with icons for digital websites

This was the seventh consecutive year of market growth with digital formats fairing the best. Internet ad spend was up 13.4% to £10.3bn – mobile accounted for 99% of the growth.

Mobile spend reached £3.9bn, with 86% of the current value of the mobile advertising market generated in just the past five years.

Digital accounted for 38% of the £1.1bn out of home advertising market in 2016, double the share digital recorded in 2012, while revenues from online ads were up for national newsbrands (+4.9% to £230m) for the fifth year running.

TV adspend, boosted by 12.6% growth in video-on-demand revenue, recorded a new high of £5.3bn in 2016, with TV’s share of overall spend holding steady at 25% over the past decade.

Stephen Woodford, chief executive at the Advertising Association said: “Advertising has proved resilient to uncertainty and behind these numbers is a cutting edge, digital business in which Britain is a world-beater. As we work towards Brexit, we’re urging government to support UK advertising and do more to unlock its potential to grow UK plc.”

	Adspend 2016 (£m)	2016 v 2015	Forecast 2017	Forecast 2018
	Adspend 2016 (£m)	% change	% change	% change
Internet	10,304	13.4%	8.5%	7.6%
of which mobile	3,866	45.4%	30.4%	20.8%
TV	5,277	0.2%	-0.5%	3.0%
of which spot advertising	4,730	-0.5%	-1.4%	2.4%
of which broadcaster VoD	197	12.6%	13.7%	11.0%
Direct Mail	1,713	-10.4%	-7.5%	-6.0%
Out of Home	1,106	4.5%	3.4%	2.3%
National newsbrands	1,101	-10.0%	-7.4%	-7.2%
of which digital	230	4.9%	1.9%	1.4%
Regional newsbrands	1,021	-13.2%	-8.6%	-8.3%
of which digital	193	-3.4%	0.2%	1.0%
Magazine brands	877	-6.8%	-5.1%	-4.6%
of which digital	282	0.2%	3.3%	3.7%
Radio	646	5.4%	3.3%	2.6%
of which digital	28	35.0%	21.3%	18.7%
Cinema	257	8.0%	5.3%	3.6%
TOTAL UK ADSPEND	21,372	3.7%	2.5%	3.3%

Source: AA/Warc Expenditure Report, April 2017