Online a bright spot as UK ad market to recover growth in 2021

The Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report anticipates 15.2% growth in the UK advertising market in 2021, better than key markets including US and China, due to strong online activity.

What it means

E-commerce has proved fundamental to maintaining platforms’ powerful position in the UK advertising sector, as consumption and commerce headed online. In the year ahead, greater certainty over trade and vaccinations ramping up indicate that the market could bounce back to pre-COVID growth levels.

A strong year ahead

In 2021, the UK ad market is set to accelerate past last year’s decline and back into growth to push past 2019’s high (£25.37 billion) and reach a total of £26.69 billion.

2020: rough but better than expected

The preliminary estimate for growth in 2020 now stands at -7.9% with adspend of £23.17bn, a marked improvement of +6.6 percentage points on the previous outlook, thanks mostly to a boost in online adspend, spurred by increased e-commerce penetration.

Internet spending stands out

• Internet spending grew by 10.1% to reach $4.2 billion during the quarter
• Search spend, key to capturing increased demand for e-commerce, grew 14.5%, closely followed by online display (pure play) at 13.9% growth