Growth in UK digital ad spend across the first half of the year significantly outpaced GDP growth, according to IAB UK’s latest Digital Adspend research, conducted with MediaSense, as the UK’s digital ad spend grew by 16 percent year-on-year in H1. And video was the standout performer, with total video spend up 26 percent year-on-year, reaching £4.12 billion. This growth means that video now accounts for more than a quarter of all digital ad spend in the UK.
Video ad spend has consistently delivered high growth in the UK in recent years. This is the fourth year in a row that digital video has recorded double digit growth in H1, which IAB UK says indicates that advertisers are prioritising the brand building opportunities and impact offered by video. Video (which IAB classifies as a subset of display advertising) now significantly outsizes non-video display, which reached £2.40 billion in H1.
IAB credits short-form video and CTV growth with the overall increase in video ad spend. A lot of the former comes from mobile – mobile spending was up 22 percent in H1 to £9.62 billion, where social video was a key driver.
“This data shows that established trends – particularly the growth of video advertising and dominance of mobile spend – have accelerated in the first half of 2024,” said Jon Mew, CEO of IAB UK. “Advertisers are increasingly utilising digital channels to deliver across the marketing funnel and build brands, with recent effectiveness research showing that marketers believe online channels deliver more emotional impact than offline media. I see that reflected in the fact that video – a highly engaging and creative format – is leading the charge when it comes to spend growth.”
Strong growth expected to continue
IAB UK’s data comes shortly after the IPA’s recent Bellwether Report, which showed that video budgets have been raised in Q3 despite overall marketing budgets being put on ice. Marketers reported caution relating to the UK budget, which will be presented later today.
The trade group acknowledged this uncertainty, and said that households are reining in consumption and have increased monthly savings in response to global economic shocks over the last few years. Nonetheless it predicts that digital ad spend, and video ad spend specifically, will continue to grow at a solid rate.
Digital ad spend growth is expected to remain in double digits throughout the second half of 2024, and into the first half of 2025. IAB UK says that CTV and social video, alongside retail media, are expected to help fuel this growth.