U.K. TV Ad Spending Tops £5 Billion for First Time

LONDON: TV advertising revenue in the U.K. totaled £5.27 billion ($7.43 billion) in 2015, up 7.4 percent on the prior year, according to figures provided to Thinkbox by British commercial broadcasters.

This is the sixth consecutive year that TV advertising revenue has grown in the U.K. The figure represents all the money invested by advertisers in commercial TV: linear spot and sponsorship, broadcaster VOD and product placement.

There were 877 new or returning advertisers on TV, reflecting the number of brands that went on TV for the first time or returned to TV after no TV advertising for at least five years.

Advertising Association (AA) estimates indicate that the total U.K. advertising market grew to £19.7 billion ($27.8 billion) in 2015, up 6.1 percent year on year. TV advertising outpaced the market. Based on the AA estimate, TV accounted for 26.9 percent of the total U.K. ad market in 2015.

Despite some recent inflation in TV advertising prices, due in part to increased advertiser demand and some decline in TV set viewing, in 2015 TV advertising was 30 percent less expensive in real terms than ten years ago.

“TV advertising works, it works better than anything else, and it works for all budgets,” said Lindsey Clay, chief executive of Thinkbox. “Nothing else has TV’s reach, scale and connection with audiences; no other form of advertising is as trusted. Advertisers of all sizes, from global technology companies to local businesses, know this and have voted with their investment. Online businesses in particular recognize the impact TV advertising has and have significantly increased their investment recently. This is something we expect to continue in 2016.”