UK digital ad spend 50% up on pre-pandemic | WARC | The Feed

UK digital ad spend 50% up on pre-pandemic

Digital ad spending in the UK rose 41% in 2021 to hit a record high of £23.5bn – a 50% increase on pre-pandemic spend, according to IAB UK’s Digital Adspend report.

Context 

While the market continued to show modest growth in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, the extent to which confidence rebounded in 2021 – a year which started with a full lockdown and ended with work-from-home advice reissued – is remarkable. 

But 2021 wasn’t a normal year: a significant part of it was spent in some form of lockdown, which brought an increased reliance on digital channels, while the return of several postponed large-scale sporting events – the Olympics, Paralympics and the Euros – will also have had an impact on spending.

Significantly, this year’s results reveal that digital ad spend grew across the board with the total market up 33% excluding the industry’s five largest companies.

Key figures 

• Search spending was up 38% to £11.7bn. The IAB’s report has also captured advertisers’ investment in search shopping ads for the first time: £3.5bn in 2021 reflects a blossoming e-commerce market.
• Display ad spending was up 53% to £9.7bn. Video drove the majority of growth, up 58% to £5.5bn. Spend on banner ads surged by 60%, suggesting that advertisers are reevaluating the value of standard display formats as part of their campaigns. 
• Mobile accounted for 60% of total spend, up 43% year-on-year to £14.13bn.
• Comparatively newer formats, such as podcasting and gaming, saw huge growth, albeit from a low base: podcast investment was up 61% to £54m, while digital audio grew 58%. Static and dynamic in-game advertising reached £9.8m , as advertisers tapped into the opportunities to reach engaged and diverse audiences. 

Key quote

“The growth has been felt by so many different facets of the industry from traditional display to video, podcasts to in-game. Clients appear to be diversifying their investments and working with a wider range of formats and suppliers” – Stephanie Claxton, Senior Manager, Digital & Programmatic at PwC.

Sourced from IAB