Every year, brands and companies spend billions of pounds on promotion to boost awareness, strengthen competitive standing, and drive sales. The United Kingdom is the largest advertising market in Europe and one of the leading advertising markets worldwide. In 2023,
amounted to 36.6 billion British pounds, enjoying the third year of healthy growth in a row after the pandemic-related slump of 2020. However, the development is not the same for all channels and formats, as a digital revolution is sweeping the UK’s advertising world.
Traditional media and advertising: no longer a perfect union?
Traditional media formats have lost hegemony in the UK’s ad market as consumers gradually turn to digital channels for information, communication, and entertainment. In 2023, revenues of nearly all legacy media
decreased compared to the values recorded in 2022. Out-of-home (OOH) media was the only exception, reporting a nearly double-digit growth rate. Cinema, direct mail, as well as newspapers and magazines are not only suffering from negative growth rates but also have managed to regain pre-COVID-19 ad revenue levels so far. Only TV, radio, as well as OOH have successfully bounced back. At the same time, traditional media still enjoy high standing among shoppers. They all outdo internet media when it comes to
consumer trust and that fact holds true across all
age groups, even the notorious Generation Z.
Digital media: the new star on the UK’s advertising horizon
The UK’s advertising landscape has undergone a fundamental digital transformation over the past few years. In reacting to the ongoing changes in consumer behavior and the digitalization of everyday life, advertisers now direct more funds and attention toward digital ad channels than ever – at the expense of traditional ones. The internet has long overtaken TV as the
top advertising medium in the UK and trend is unlikely to reverse in the future. Advertisers spent nearly 30 billion British pounds on
digital promotion in 2023, cementing the UK’s position as
Europe’s largest online advertising market. In 2023, search was the most popular
digital ad format in the UK, with roughly 14.7 billion pounds invested in this type of campaigns. Another driver of ad spend and revenue growth is
social media, which is unsurprising, considering the UK’s soaring social network use and near-universal mobile penetration.
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