UK advertising spend forecast increased to 5.3% to reach £18.8bn in 2014
The UK advertising spend forecast for 2014 has been increased to 5.3 per cent to £18.8 bn according to the latest forecast release from Warc.
The upgrade has taken place following data from the third quarter of 2013, which saw revenue reach its highest year-on-year growth in three years, and has meant that the forecast for advertising spend for 2013 is predicted to be up by 3.8 per cent at £17.8bn.
Warc is an information marketing service which releases quarterly spend forecasts based on analysis of advertising spend data.
During the third quarter of last year, advertising spend saw its fastest period of growth since 2013, by 5.5 per cent year-on-year, to £4.2bn, largely as a result on online spend which was up by 13.7 per cent and by TV advertising, which grew by 14.5 per cent.
Spend across radio and Out-of-home channels, which declined by 4.3 per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively, are also forecast for growth, at 2.9 per cent and 5.1 per cent, while TV is forecast to increase by 6 per cent this year.
Tim Lefroy, chief executive of the Advertising Association said that advertising had “bounced back” to levels witnessed before the recession in 2012.
“Economists take note, adspend is more than a bellwether – it has been shown to drive GDP growth, not just follow it,” he added.
Other year-on-year forecasts included declines for advertising spend across newsbrands (1 per cent) and magazine brands (1.3 per cent) while increases in spend for cinema (4.9 per cent), internet (10.1 per cent) and direct mail (2 per cent) were also predicted.