Improvement expected for UK advertising spend forecase following 1.1% increase during Q1

Online spend is estimated to have grown by 11.1 per cent during the first quarter of 2012, and is forecast for overall growth of 10.1% this year, with a value of £5.3bn.

Out of home also saw an increase, by 3.1 per cent, in the first quarter, with the Olympic and Paralympic Games expected to help drive growth to 4.1%, reaching £0.9bn overall.

Elsewhere, radio revenue is expected for a growth of 3.8 per cent, reaching £0.4bn, while Cinema spend is also looking healthier, forecast for an over growth of 3.1 per cent (£0.2bn) after a first quarter where it increase by 9.5 percent.

Meanwhile, TV advertising spend was down by 0.7 per cent during the first three months of the year, although a 0.3 per cent increase to £4.2bn is still predicted.

Press saw the largest decline in spend, with a fall of 10 per cent during Q1, and is expected to see an annual decline of 5.1 per cent (£3.7bn) overall in 2012. However the Index does predict that will stabilise next year.

Tim Lefroy, chief executive of the Advertising Association, said: “In the face of global economic uncertainty, UK advertising holds a steady course. Evidence shows that advertising invigorates GDP growth, so a healthy ad market is good news for the whole economy, not just advertisers.”

Suzy Young, data editor at Warc, added: "It remains a very short term market. There is some evidence that TV advertisers, for example, have brought budgets forward to Q2 from Q3 to get the benefit of marketing spend now as prospects for the rest of the year remain unclear.”

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