The UK advertising industry is experiencing a robust recovery, with Q2 2024 spend reaching £10bn, a 13.4% increase, according to the Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report.

The pick-up, which was 4 percentage points ahead of forecast, was largely driven by stronger than expected digital growth.

In the first half of 2024, UK advertising spend increased by 13.5% to £19.6bn. The Advertising Association/WARC has upgraded its forecasts for 2024 by 2.9 percentage points and now expects ad spend to cross the £40bn barrier for the first time, reaching £40.5bn.

The UK advertising market is expected to register annual growth ahead of key European markets, such as France (8.0%), Spain (5.7%), Italy (5.4%) and Germany (4.0%) in current prices.

"The advertising industry is once again driving UK growth, helping businesses to compete, promote innovation and support jobs," said Stephen Woodford, CEO, Advertising Association. "It is an essential engine of the economy and key to the Government’s central ambition to achieve the highest sustained growth in the G7. Advertising has a vital role in funding culture, media and sport – and the results of Q2 show how advertising can play a fundamental part in supporting the success of events such as the Men’s Euros, the Olympics and the Paralympics."

Key online formats registered growth in Q2 2024, including online display (21.6%) and search (12.7%), alongside out of home (17.0%). TV also benefited from a growth of 9.0% for the quarter, representing the strongest quarter for TV in over two years. Regional news brands and magazines registered their first growth since the pandemic bounce back of Q2 2022 with increases in spend of 1.9% and 0.5% respectively.

"Four in every five pounds spent on advertising so far this year has gone towards digital formats, money which has mostly been committed programmatically and which is increasingly leveraging AI tools for further efficiencies. The strong growth across the online sector in particular during the first half of 2024 has put the UK’s ad market on course for its best year since the millennium, if the post-pandemic recovery year of 2021 is discounted," said James McDonald, Director of Data, Intelligence & Forecasting, WARC.

The Advertising Association/WARC expects the UK advertising market to reach £43.1bn in 2025. This growth is largely driven by digital formats, with four in every five pounds spent on advertising this year going towards digital formats, most of which has been committed programmatically and is increasingly leveraging AI tools for further efficiencies.