British Ad Spend Fell 4 Percent in ’08

LONDON: Recently released figures from the Quarterly Survey of Advertising Expenditure, compiled by the World Advertising Research Center (WARC) for the Advertising Association, show that British ad spend fell 3.9 percent last year, with a 9.6-percent fall in the fourth quarter alone.

The report notes, however, that the online medium showed robust growth of 17.3 percent in 2008—this was, however, down from the 39.5-percent growth recorded in 2007.

Newspapers were most impacted by the downturn, with a 12-percent fall, and magazines were down 9.9 percent. Television ad revenues fell 4.9 percent in the period.

From 2003 to 2008, meanwhile, British ad spend was up 10.9 percent, with online revenues gaining more than 600 percent; the web now has a share of total adspend bigger than magazines, outdoor, radio and cinema combined. In the five-year span, TV spending was up by 2.6 percent.