UK ad spend up 7.8% in 2019

In WPP’s media buying business’ report This Year Next Year, it predicts 2019 will be the sixth consecutive year of mid to high single digit growth.

It notes that digital giants including Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Alphabet, eBay, IAC, Uber and Booking.com are huge contributors to the ad growth. These eight companies spent more than £20bn on advertising globally during 2018, and if ad spend grows in line with revenues, they will spend more than £25bn in 2019.

The report states: “It is noteworthy that the UK and US are relatively unique among large, mature advertising economies in posting the growth that each have in recent years. The commonalities include spending by more small businesses on digital media, but we think the more substantial factors are the emergence of massively scaled digital brand owners whose businesses are endemic to the internet.”

Traditional TV advertising will be flat in 2020 after ending down by -2.3% this year, with Brexit being seen as a potential explanation for continuing caution. Outdoor should be the fastest growing ‘traditional; medium with predicted growth of 4.0 – 5.0% over each of the next five years after growing close to +5% in 2019.

Radio will grow closer to 2.0% in 2020 while national print titles are predicted to fall by another -6.0% next year.

Looking forward, as economic conditions improve, digital pure-play media owners will account for 73% of all advertising in the UK by 2024.