UK Adspend Tops £17 Billion As Recovery Beckons
UK advertising expenditure rose by a healthy 2.5% last year to more than £17 billion as the ongoing downturn showed further signs of coming to an end.
The latest figures released by the Advertising Association and the World Advertising Research Centre reveal that the market outperformed predictions during 2003 to emerge from instability into a period of relative growth.
Cautious forecasting and low expectations for 2003’s full-year results were inevitable due to weak business and financial market conditions weighed by the war on Iraq. A consensus of recent forecasts compiled by MediaTel INSIGHT predicted growth of just 1.7% for the year as a whole.
Quarter three figures suffered the most due to the unstable economic conditions, as advertisers turned towards more cost effective marketing. Financial press and business magazines were particularly affected by the weak financial sector.
Internet advertising looks set to achieve the biggest growth in 2003, jumping 61.6% to £376 million, including recruitment advertising estimates of £51 million. If predictions are accurate, internet spend excluding recruitment advertising will reach £325 million, a 64.9% rise over 2002 and in line with industry predictions.
The strongest performance of 2003 was in the final quarter when outdoor and radio both grew significantly. Outdoor achieved an overall increase of 10.4% year on year to £901 million, whilst the radio sector increased by 6.8% during the same period to £582 million.
Press advertising in regional newspapers grew by 3.2% and and television expenditure rose by 1.0% to £4.4 million in nominal terms. However, growth was not experienced by all sectors with cinema advertising falling from £180 million to £173 million and consumer magazines dropping from £785 million to £784 million.
The latest figures support a recent report from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, which suggests that a rising tide of corporate optimism could cause adspend to climb to levels not seen since the height of the dotcom boom (see Marketing Spend Expected To Grow By 3% During 2004).
Earlier this year data from Nielsen Media Research also revealed that nearly two thirds of the UK’s top one hundred advertisers increased their above-the-line spend last year as confidence returned to the market following a prolonged period of economic uncertainty and budget tightening (see Confidence Returns As Top Advertisers Increase Spend).
Advertising Association: 020 828 2771 www.adassoc.org.uk
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