INSIGHTanalysis: 2002 UK Advertising Revenue Figures

At the beginning of the year, the market was still struggling to come to terms with the fallout from September 11 as well as the recession in the telecommunications and financial sectors and the general economic slowdown.

TV advertising is generally the first area to show improvement after a downturn and 2002 was no exception. Despite off-peak kick off times, the World Cup helped to stimulate activity between April and June and television advertising expenditure totalled £4.32 billion for the year, up from £4.15 billion in 2001.

The press sector, as a whole, continued to perform poorly with ad revenues down by almost £200 million to £8.31 billion and its share of the market has now slipped below 50%. National newspapers and business and professional publications bore the brunt of the fall in demand with ad revenues down by 6.4% and 9.4% respectively. There was better news for regional press which saw adspend rise by 1.3% to £2.87 billion while expenditure on consumer magazines reached £785 million, an increase of 0.8%.

Outdoor advertising continues to flourish and spending increased by £14 million to £802 million while radio saw marginal growth of 0.4%. Direct mail remains a burgeoning sector and expenditure rose by 6.7% to £2.38 billion.

Cinema had another banner year with admissions reaching a thirty-year high and expenditure increasing accordingly to £180 million. However, it was surpassed by the internet, which lured back major advertisers driven away by the dotcom burst, and saw revenues jump by 18.7% during 2002.

The AA’s results come on the back of dispiriting forecasts from ZenithOptimedia which indicated that any recovery in the ad market will take longer than anticipated and there is little hope of real growth until 2004 (see Worldwide Advertising Forecasts From ZenithOptimedia).