The survey found that 23.8% of participants reported an increase to their marketing spend in the previous three months, in comparison with 16.9% who recorded cuts.

However, participants were less confident about the outlook for the rest of the year, with sentiment worsening regarding both their own companies’ and the industry’s financial prospects.

The net balance of participants predicting better financial prospects at their own business decreased to -9.6% in the second quarter, from +0.6% the previous quarter.

Almost a third of marketers ( 32.3%) felt less positive about their financial outlook than they did three months ago, compared with 22.8% of participants who were optimistic.

Maryam Baluch, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence and author of the Bellwether Report, said: "Bellwether panellists have demonstrated notable resilience against a backdrop of persistent economic uncertainty. By continuing to bolster marketing spend – particularly as high inflation threatens to weigh on consumer demand – respondents are indicating a commitment to investment and brand-building activities that underpin growth.

"The fact there hasn’t been a considerable scaling back of activity in response to the economic shock arising from the Middle East war suggests firms are taking a strategic, longer-term view rather than getting bogged down in short-termism."

For market research, marketers have decreased their market research budgets for the sixth consecutive quarter, according to the report – but the reduction is less severe than previously anticipated.

Among Bellwether study participants, 15.7% revised their expenditure on market research down in the second quarter of 2026, while 11.6% recorded growth. The remainder of the participants left their budgets unchanged.

While the resulting net balance of -4.1% pointed to a fall in spending, this was less pronounced than executives in the survey had anticipated for the 2026/27 budget year, with a net balance of -13.7% projecting cuts.

The survey asked 300 marketing executives if their budgets have been revised up or down, or remained unchanged, in the past three months. The survey defined market research as including qualitative, quantitative, brand tracking, econometrics and product development research.

Bill Doris, vice-president, analytics lead, Emea, WPP Media and chair of the IPA media research advisory group, said: "The latest IPA Bellwether Report Q2 2026 shows market research is still navigating a bit of a dry spell, hitting its sixth consecutive quarter of budget cuts.

"About 15.7% of companies trimmed their spending, leaving a net balance of -4.1%. While that’s a solid decline, it’s actually an improvement on Q1’s -8.5% and significantly less severe than the -13.7% plunge executives originally feared for the 2026/27 financial year."

Data collection for the second quarter was conducted between 1st-23rd June 2026.

The IPA Bellwether Report is based on a questionnaire survey of around 300 UK-based companies that provide regular quarterly information on trends in their marketing activities.

Participating companies include a variety of advertisers in terms of market sector and geographical location, with the survey panel recruited from the UK’s top 1,000 companies. Respondents are primarily marketing directors or similar.