Ad spend on addressable TV in the UK grew by 37 percent YoY in 2025, according to the latest Expenditure Report from the Advertising Association (AA) and WARC, which tracks spending figures via a survey of media owners and industry bodies.
The findings show that while overall TV spend was down by 1.2 percent YoY, TV accounted for 11.2 percent of total ad spend in 2025, behind search (38.3 percent) and social media (24.7 percent). This suggests addressable TV is playing a growing role in bolstering TV’s share of UK ad spend, making up 35 percent of TV spend last year.
The report reveals that overall UK ad investment was up 6.4 percent YoY, reaching £46.7 billion in 2025. Much of that growth was driven by the festive season, with ad spend rising 8 percent YoY during Q4 2025, hitting £12.9 billion.
Refining channel reporting
The latest report sees the AA and WARC update their reported channel definitions “to reflect current trading practices”, developed in consultation with stakeholders responsible for each channel. The new reporting separates out retail media (which used to sit within search) and social media (formerly in online display) as individual channels for the first time, with YouTube now sitting in the social media category.
These new distinctions create some interesting insights, particularly when it comes to showing the more subdued growth of search spending when excluding the high growth found in retail media. Retail media spend increased by 17.5 percent YoY across the full year, and 30.5 percent in Q4, while search spending rose by 5.8 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively. Meanwhile social media (including YouTube) grew by 21 percent across 2025, and 22 percent during Q4.
The report also forecasts UK ad spend to climb by 6.6 percent YoY in 2026 to reach £49.8 billion, and by 5.6 percent in 2027 to hit £52.6 billion.
Separation anxiety
The AA and WARC are now working on a second phase of refinement, including providing clarity on investment in the influencer/creator space, the emerging GenAI/LLM advertising channel, and differences in media investment between large brand advertisers and the long tail of SMEs. The groups said these advertisers “together are estimated to comprise 3.5 million UK businesses alone that advertise each year in the UK, as well as many more from overseas.”
These planned updates should provide further detail on the dynamics of ad spend between channels that are being disrupted by emerging formats, especially given the impact of AI on search behaviours and publisher revenues. Additional clarity on YouTube and emerging creator channels could also help provide a more nuanced view of investment across the video ecosystem, while the spending habits of SMEs are becoming increasingly important for media owners looking to attract that long tail of advertisers.
“The AA/WARC Expenditure Report has been a staple for practitioners for over four decades, and this latest iteration – developed in close consultation with industry stakeholders – ensures our investment benchmarks will continue to accurately reflect the pace of change in advertising trade for many years to come,” said James McDonald, Director of Data, Intelligence & Forecasting at WARC. “The result is greater clarity and transparency around media investment in the UK, to the benefit of both the media industry and the public at large.”
Follow VideoWeek on LinkedIn.
