UK Adspend Up By 5.4% In 2005

Advertising expenditure in the UK enjoyed a year on year increase of 5.4% in 2005, with the latest figures from Thomson Intermedia attributing the growth to expanding internet revenues.

Despite industry fears that the internet’s dominance would take marketers’ budgets away from traditional media, Thomson showed that television and press advertising held its own in 2005.

TV adspend saw a rise of 4% last year, reaching $4.2 billion, with national press advertising totaling £1.8 billion in 2005.

Outdoor adspend increased by a slight 2% year on year, hitting £754 million, while Cinema suffered a 4% drop at £139 million.

Thomson gave no specific figures for the internet in 2005, claiming that it is difficult to measure search advertising, the major area of online growth.

Looking back at predictions made in October by the Advertising Association, UK adspend did better than expected, with the AA projecting it to rise by just 2.3% at current prices in 2005.

Outdoor and cinema did not live up to expectations however, with the respective bullish forecasts of 7.4% and 4.9%, for the medium not reached.

According to the AA, cinema adspend was set to enjoy the largest gains among traditional media during 2005 however, Thomson’s figures reveal it did dropped by 4.0%, instead of increasing by 4.9%, as predicted by the AA.

Looking towards 2006, Initiative Media predicts online to be the fastest growing medium in 2006. Internet adspend is expected to be up by 26.3% year on year in 2006, with the strong performance attributed to the increasing take-up of broadband.

Initiative projects UK adspend to rise by 3.7% year on year in 2006, while OPera Media expects the market to perform better, enjoying an increase of 4.5% this year.

Thompson Intermedia: www.thompson-intermedia.com