Traditional media and advertising: no longer a perfect union?

Traditional media formats no longer dominate the UK’s ad market as consumers gradually turn to digital channels for information, communication, and entertainment. TV ad revenue in the UK has steadily declined since 2015, reaching its lowest figure in over a decade in 2020. A similar downward trend is showing for ad investments in direct mail, newsbrands, and magazine promotion. On the other side of the coin, timelines show that expenditures on radio, cinema, and outdoor promotion had all been increasing prior to 2020. COVID-19 hit traditional advertising channels particularly hard, and while digital platforms were much less affected due to the pandemic-induced spike in internet usage, UK cinemas witnessed an unprecedented drop in ad earnings.

Digital media: the new star on the UK’s advertising horizon

The UK’s advertising landscape has undergone a fundamental digital transformation over the past few years. In reacting to the ongoing changes in consumer behavior and the digitalization of everyday life, advertisers now direct more funds and attention towards digital ad channels than ever – at the expense of traditional ones. The internet has long overtaken TV as the top advertising medium in the UK, and according to the latest forecasts, this trend is unlikely to reverse in the future. Advertisers spent more than 22 billion euros on digital promotion in 2020, cementing the UK’s position as the largest online advertising market in Europe. So which channels are advertisers directing their focus and ad dollars on? In 2020, search was the most popular digital ad format in the UK, with roughly 3.7 billion British pounds invested in search campaigns within the first half-year. Another driver of ad spend and revenue growth is social media, which is not surprising, considering the UK’s soaring social network use and mounting mobile penetration.

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