An analysis of UK alcohol advertising expenditure and consumption

What is the link between advertising and alcohol consumption? This brief article, which includes charts, uses WARC and Nielsen Media Research data to argue that total UK alcohol advertising expenditure decreased in real terms by 19 per cent between 1995 and 2007, though spend on wine and cider rose.

An analysis of UK alcohol advertising expenditure and consumption

Laura JamesWARC

 Using data from WARC and Nielsen Media Research, WARC estimates that total UK alcoholic drinks advertising expenditure at current prices has increased by 13% in the last 12 years. UK adspend on wine and cider has also grown by 248% and 484% respectively. However, if we strip out inflation, total expenditure on alcohol advertising has actually decreased by 19%. Within this figure, we can see from the table below that both wine and cider have benefited from increased investment....

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands