The research said that there was a 38% surplus year-on-year export growth in UK advertising in 2025, outpacing the UK service sector average, with an overall £4.2bn trade surplus for the country’s advertising industry.

The US remains the UK’s largest market, with exports reaching £5.5bn in 2025, the research added.

Following the findings, the AA has set out five key recommendations to the government to support the UK advertising industry, including giving advertising parity with screen and music in its export support infrastructure.

Other recommendations include actively signposting advertising businesses to existing support, recognising advertising as an enabler of other exports and making existing innovation infrastructure accessible to advertising.

The final recommendation was extending talent mobility commitments to fit the advertising sector, including strengthening the creative partnership with the US.

Aisling Conlon, international director for UK Advertising and the Advertising Association, said: “This report shows the immense scale of what UK advertising already delivers internationally, not only as an export sector in its own right, but as a driver of growth and commercial success for businesses across the wider economy.

“UK advertising does not need rescue. It needs recognition as one of the UK’s great global growth industries.”

Julian Douglas, chair of the UK Advertising Export Group and group chief executive officer at VCCP, added: “Pound for pound, the UK is the most respected creative advertising market in the world. But reputation alone doesn’t win business – presence does.

“The agencies that grow internationally are the ones who show up consistently, build relationships and stay visible in market. The Advertising Association is building exactly that infrastructure, and this report makes the case for why government needs to back it.”