UK online marketers cite Covid-19, Brexit and regulation as greatest threats

• Unsurprisingly, the global pandemic is cited as the greatest threat by 36% of the 506 British marketing professionals surveyed by LiveRamp and YouGov.

• However, Brexit ran it close with 26% fearful of the shifting regulatory landscape presenting a headache, while 25% are concerned about the domination of ‘walled gardens’ online.

Why does it matter?

• The UK is an online advertising heavyweight, with the sector accounting for 62% of total advertising spend of £23.6bn in 2020 – growth of 5% on the previous year.

• Highlighting the exacerbating impact of Covid-19, Nick Hewat, the commercial director of Guardian News & Media, said: “For us, the problem is our inability to collect revenue according to the size and quality of our audience. It isn’t just coronavirus that has done that – that has been an issue for years.”

• One of these pre-existing issues is walled gardens, with Ozone Project chief exec Damon Reeve observing that the dominance of a few companies “creates a lot of sensitivity around their business models, where on the one hand we’re reliant on them for providing services and on the other they use that to their own advantage”.

• Fearing we could be caught up in a titanic clash between regulators and the tech giants, Advertising Week chief executive Matt Scheckner added: “Regulatory bodies traditionally have authority in their jurisdiction and technology companies don’t recognise those walls or jurisdictions.”

• Another voice mindful of future issues is Vihan Sharma, managing director for Europ, at LiveRamp, who commented: “We must use this as an opportunity to innovate the online advertising ecosystem, embracing the tools that will enable data collaboration and increase addressability and reach.”