UK advertising market grows at fastest pace for four years

The UK advertising market last year expanded at its fastest pace since 2010, as marketers ramped up their spending across most forms of media apart from print.

Total advertising spending rose 5.8 per cent to £18.6bn in 2014, according to the latest data from the Advertising Association, a trade body that represents advertisers, agencies and media owners. The figures, which the AA compiled in conjunction with Warc, an advertising research body, are widely seen as the definitive measure of ad spending in the UK.

The fastest growth was in online advertising, which increased 15 per cent to £7.19bn. Within online, mobile advertising surged 59 per cent to £1.62bn as brands rushed to catch up with the shift by consumers from PCs towards smartphones.

While Google, Facebook and other digital companies have captured the lion's share of online ad spending in recent years, the AA's figures suggest that traditional media companies such as television broadcasters and the press are starting to catch up. For example, ad spending on the websites of TV broadcasters grew 15 per cent to £145m.

Tim Lefroy, chief executive at the Advertising Association, said: "In cinemas, outdoor, news, television and elsewhere, advertising is seizing the opportunity of new technology."

Traditional media put in a mixed performance in 2014, the figures show. TV ad spending rose 5.4 per cent to £4.46m - strong growth that has already been reflected in financial statements by ITV, the UK's largest commercial broadcaster.

And in spite of growing competition from digital audio companies such as Spotify, broadcast radio advertising spending increased 7.2 per cent to £575m.

However printed media continued to suffer. Advertisers cut their spending on national newspapers by 4.7 per cent to £1.37bn. Magazine ad spending was down 4.3 per cent to £993m.

Spending on outdoor advertising increased 3 per cent to exceed £1bn for the first time. Digital poster and billboard screens accounted for about a quarter of the total.

The AA forecast that total ad spending would grow 5.8 per cent in 2015 and 5.4 per cent in 2016 to more than £20bn.

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