UK television ad spend drops 4.4% in H1 2017

TV advertising spend in the UK declined by 4.4% in the first half of 2017, despite the overall UK ad market being up 3.7% year-on-year.

This is according to the latest Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report, which said that total UK advertising expenditure grew to £10.8 billion during the first six months of 2017 – the largest H1 total of any year since monitoring began in 1982.

The overall market growth was driven by increased spend on digital advertising, which accounted for 54% of all ad spend in the first half of the year – some £5.8 billion.

In the first half of 2017 TV ad spend was down 4.4% year-on-year, while and in Q2 alone it was down 2.5% year-on-year. However, the amount of TV ad spend allocated to video-on-demand (VOD) was up by 8.8% in the first half of the year and by 10.6% in Q2.

The Advertising Association/WARC data says that for full-year 2016 TV ad spend in the UK came to £5.3 billion. Of this, £197 million was VOD advertising spend.

For full-year 2017 the report forecasts that TV ad figure will dip 2.4% year-on-year, but the VOD figure will climb by 9.8%.

“The latest data highlight the importance of mobile to advertisers in the UK – spend on mobile ads accounted for the entirety of internet growth during the second quarter of 2017 and 97% over the first six months of the year,” said James McDonald, senior data analyst at WARC.

“As mobile usage and credit-fuelled consumer spending continue to rise, investment in mobile advertising will track ahead of other platforms this year.”

Stephen Woodford, chief executive at the Advertising Association added: “Spend on advertising is showing strong resilience, at a time of real uncertainty for UK business. We know advertising has a positive effect on the economy, with every pound spent generating six pounds of GDP, so it is good to see steady, sustained growth.”

The report forecasts that total UK ad spend will top £22 billion this year, climbing 3.1% from last year’s £21.3 billion.