NEW UK advertising forecasts are predicting growth of 5.5 per cent this year and 6.5 per cent next year, taking UK adspend past £20 billion for the first time – next year.
The forecast is from the latest Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report, which is UK-wide and quarterly.
Says the report, UK adspend reached £17,877 million las year, up 3.9 per cent on the previous year with mobile advertising (+95 per cent), broadcast video on demand (+21 per cent) and digital national newsbrands (+19.5 per cent) all experiencing strong growth.
The report notes, among other things, that display advertising enjoyed a turnaround in the second half of last year, “experiencing a five per cent growth in H2, its best performance since the recovery in 2010”.
Spend on recruitment advertising also enjoyed a better year, last year, rising by almost four per cent in Q4 “(the sector has lost over 60 per cent of its value since 2007)”. The report continues: “As the economy and job market improves, investment in recruitment advertising is expected to grow more than one per cent this year and over three per cent in 2015.”
And the report continues: “Driven by search advertising, the Other Classified sector has grown consistently since 2009, but in 2013 growth started to slow (from 18 per cent in H1 to nine per cent in H2) as focus switched from desktop to mobile. Mobile is expected to account for a quarter of search spend by the end of 2014, rising to a third by 2015. Desktop search will be relatively flat over the same period as a result.”
Other figures include:
* TV spot advertising grew 2.9 per cent in 2013, and is expected to benefit from increased ad spend around the football World Cup with a boost of 5.5 per cent this year. Broadcaster VOD grew 21.2 per cent spurred by the continued popularity of catch up TV channels.
* Radio ad spend picked up in Q4 2013, growing 6.2 per cent, although overall spend for the year was down, partly due to the absence of the Jubilee and Olympics which had boosted revenues in the previous year.
* Out-of-home was another sector that benefited significantly from 2012’s big events. The sector performed well, holding onto this growth in 2013, with total spend up two per cent. As technology advances, OOH should see strong growth, forecast at 4.5 per cent in 2014 and seven per cent in 2015.
* National newsbrands continue to decline, despite the rise of digital ad revenues which grew 19.5 per cent in 2013 to a value of £184 million. The fall is expected to flatten this year (-0.2 per cent) with a forecasted growth of 1.8 per cent in 2015.
* Regional newsbrands saw print ad spend drop (-8.8 per cent) and digital revenues rise to 7.9 per cent. The regionals have been particularly impacted by the fall in recruitment advertising. The decline in ad spend is forecast to continue to fall but at a slower rate.
* Magazines fell 5.7 per cent in 2013, with print at -9.2 per cent and digital growing 7.1 per cent. Growth in digital ad spend is expected to offset the decline in print by 2015 with an overall growth rate of 0.6 per cent forecast.
* Internet ad spend grew 15.6 per cent in 2013, to £6.3 billion. With a growth rate of 95.2 per cent in 2013, mobile is expected to continue to grow rapidly, by 73 per cent in 2014 and 46 per cent in 2015. Total internet adspend is expected to increase by over 12 per cent both this year and next.
Source: Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report, April 28 2014.
