2017 a record year for UK adspend

Preliminary figures released today from the Advertising Association and Warc show a record level of spending on advertising in the UK over the course of 2017, with a 3.4% year-on-year increase to £22.1 billion marking the eighth consecutive year of market growth.

Total UK adspend for the year amounted to a 4.8% share of global spend, making it the fourth-largest advertising market in the world after the US, China and Japan.

Britain also accounts for a fifth of European adspend and almost a quarter of Western European advertising spend. In both cases, the UK is the largest advertising market, ahead of Germany and France.

The AA/Warc forecasts UK adspend to grow 2.8% in 2018, while global adspend is expected to increase by 4.7% to $572 billion.

James McDonald, data editor at Warc, said 2018 should be a stellar year for global advertising, with ad investment set to grow at its strongest rate since the post recovery years of 2010 and 2011.

“All global regions, with the exception of the Middle East, are expected to register growth, supported by key quadrennial events – notably the Winter Olympics in South Korea, the FIFA World Cup in Russia and the US mid-term elections,” McDonald said.

“Mobile is now a key driver of global growth, and was the only channel to gain share of spend in 2017 – it now accounts for one in five ad dollars worldwide. The UK is ahead of the curve as mobile already attracts a quarter of ad investment, and it will draw an additional $1.4bn over the course of 2018.”