WARC: TV ad revenue in the UK to rebound this year

TV adverting revenue is expected to rebound this year after dropping in 2017, in part due to the Russia World Cup this summer.

This is according to the Advertising Association/WARC’s latest Expenditure Report, which claims that TV ad spend dipped 3.2% last year to £5.11 billion but will climb 2.3% in 2018 and 3.0% in 2019.

The report claims that last year video-on-demand accounted for £211 million of the total TV ad spend figure, up 7.1% year-on-year. This is tipped to increase by a further 11.7% in 2018 and 11.8% in 2019.

Online ad spend was found to be the largest segment of the overall market in 2017, growing 14.3% to reach £11.55 billion. Of this, mobile accounted for £5.22 billion and grew by an even larger 37.3%.

Total UK ad spend grew for its eighth consecutive year in 2017, climbing 4.6% to reach £22.2 billion, according to the Advertising Association and WARC.

“The latest verified results illustrate a dynamic market, one which has now expanded for 18 consecutive quarters,” said WARC data editor, James McDonald.

“Mobile continues to underpin growth – over 90% of additional mobile investment was directed towards search and social media in 2017 – yet there was vitality across the wider industry.”

“Radio and cinema both recorded their fourth successive year of rising spend, while the out of home market expanded for the eighth year running. Further, we believe TV’s dip, caused mostly by reduced spending within the consumable goods category, is anomalous, and expect the channel to rebound this year thanks in part to the summer’s World Cup.”