The latest figures revealed by IAB UK and PwC Digital reveal that UK advertisers spent £13.44 billion on digital Advertising in 2018.

This figure represents a 15 percent year-on-year increase, a rise of £1.8bn compared to 2017. This demonstrates continued confidence in the market about the power of digital advertising.

An analyst commented: “The flexibility and measurable performance of top online advertising platforms attracts small businesses, trade promotion budgets and big brand advertisers alike”.

Smartphone advertising drives growth

As in 2017, almost all of the growth in 2018 came from from smartphones. Now 51% of all digital advertising is on smartphone.

Search advertising still leads the way

Search advertising continues to dominate the total spend, accounting for £6.72bn or 50% of total ad spend in the UK in 2018.

This is closely followed by display advertising at 39%, which includes things like display banners, video, sponsored content, and social in-feed video. Video is now the largest display format, with 44% of overall spend in this category.

Experts commented: “As the quality of smartphone handsets continue to improve … users are spending more time consuming more video content on their phones. And the more content that is consumed the more ad opportunities they are presented with”.

Further growth forecasted

In signs of further growth in 2019, the IAB is reporting that UK ad spend rose 5.8% year-on-year to reach £6 billion in Q2 2019 (April – June 2019), marking UK advertising’s 24th consecutive quarter of market growth. A breakdown of performance and forecast figures are shown below.

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