UK Advertising Grows 2.5% To £17.2bn In 2003

Cautious forecasting and low expectations for this year’s results were inevitable due to weak business and financial market conditions weighed by the war on Iraq. In real terms, that is after adjusting for inflation, expenditure was down by 0.4% on 2002. Quarter three figures showed the weakest growth, at just 0.2% in current prices.

Internet advertising is estimated 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 Q4 where outdoor and radio both grew significantly. Conversely, financial press and business magazine advertising figures were particularly affected by the weak financial sector.

Outdoor achieved an overall increase of 10.4% to £901 million whilst the radio sector increased by 6.8% to £582 million (before inflation).

The press continues to take the largest share of advertising expenditure, at 48.7%, with television having the second largest share of 25.4%.

Press advertising in regional newspapers grew by 3.2% and television expenditure rose by 1.0% to £4.4 million in nominal terms. However, growth was not experienced by all sectors; cinema advertising fell from £180 million to £173 million and consumer magazines fell from £785 million to £784 million.

The AA’s advertising statistics year book will be released in June 2004.