The Brief – Wednesday 4 March – Reach reports a decline, IAB UK says digital ad market grew in 2025 and GB news reports growth

💰 According to IAB UK, the UK digital ad market grew 10% in 2025 to reach £40.5bn, significantly outpacing UK GDP growth (1.4%). Social media spend rose 21% to £11.5bn, accounting 28% of the digital market. Video now accounts for 23% of all digital adspend and 59% of social investment. Search grew 6% to £17.9bn, equivalent to 44% of the digital ad market. (IAB UK)

📰 Reach reported a 3.7% year-on-year decline in revenue to £518.4m in its full-year results. Print revenue declined 4.6% to £388.1m. Digital revenue fell just 0.85% to £128.9m “despite materially lower Google referral volumes across the second half of the year”, which led to an 8% year-on-year drop in page views. (Reach)

📈 GB News reported 66% year-on-year revenue growth to just over £26m in the year to May 2025. Annual losses also narrowed, falling 34% to £22m. Since GB News launched, the broadcaster has cumulatively lost £131m for owners Sir Paul Marshall and Legatum Ventures. (Press Gazette)

📺 Netflix is “eager” to play host to the BBC and other traditional broadcasters as audiences move to streaming, co-CEO Greg Peters has said. This comes as the BBC faces renewed competition for online viewing. (The Telegraph)

🖥️ Outsmart, the UK trade body for the OOH industry, has launched a campaign promoting “The Superpowers of Out-of-Home”. The initiative, in conjunction with IPA Outdoor Group members, will appear on digital screens in relevant B2B locations across the country. (Outsmart)

🎙️ Nielsen has announced that Magellan AI, a podcast advertising intelligence and measurement platform, has licensed and integrated Nielsen’s proprietary DMA data into its platform. This will enable US advertisers to measure podcast performance at local geographic level, with Nielsen’s DMA regions covering 210 media markets in the US. (Magellan AI)