New Digital Age gathered reaction to the release of the latest IPA Bellwether quarterly report, tracking the movements in spending by advertisers in the UK…
Julie Selman, SVP, Head of EMEA at Magnite:
“Seeing marketing budgets receive the second-highest reading in the last two years will be welcome news felt across the industry. Despite tough economic conditions, the industry is in a strong position heading into the second half of the year.
“Confidence in video is still strong as the latest IPA Bellwether report shows it has reached a seven-quarter high. As consumers continue to spend a significant portion of their media time watching video, it further cements its position as a primary channel for brands wanting to seamlessly connect with audiences across multiple screens.
“The report also highlights how AI can work as a tangible opportunity to drive operational efficiencies and scale marketing productivity. A dedicated coordination layer is an important part of this evolution, as it opens up multiple opportunities for buyers to connect intent directly to execution. To ensure AI enhances advertising, the industry needs to prioritise human in the loop product design to ensure context, accuracy, and taste in recommendations.”
Phil Acton, Country Manager UK, Adform:
“In the face of escalating geopolitical pressures and a dip in corporate financial confidence, the UK marketing industry is refusing to retreat. Maintaining upward budget growth during such a volatile quarter shows that, rather than panicking, the industry is doubling down. In particular, they’re investing in high-impact, brand-building formats like video, which has rightfully surged to a seven-quarter high of +8.2%. It’s a clear sign that playing the long game – crafting a strong consumer connection – is the priority.
“As pointed out by the respondents, the real game-changer here is AI. This includes advanced, LLM-capable tools that can automate complex media workflows and trading tasks. Instead of replacing human talent, this technology is liberating them from manual optimisation and freeing up agencies and brand teams to focus on the creative work that stands out.
“What’s more, these agentic solutions can help marketers embrace the full potential of omnichannel. Where OOH and audio have lacked investment, they can now be seamlessly paired with other formats. In a challenging economic climate, the winners will be those who use this agentic technology across their whole media plan, and deliver engaging and measurable campaigns to consumers, no matter the touchpoint.”
Adam Jabłoński, Head of Account Management Strategy, RTB House:
“Despite the tough economic conditions, the latest IPA Bellwether has once again shown that marketing budgets are in a stable position. This will bring much optimism to the industry ahead of Q3, where a strong golden quarter will hopefully lie ahead.
“While respondents state they are wary of cheaper, AI-backed ‘DIY’ solutions, it has also been viewed as a tangible opportunity to complement talent, drive operational efficiencies, and scale marketing productivity. We have certainly witnessed that Deep Learning technology can level the playing field for smaller businesses to compete on the global stage by addressing the high barrier to entry in advanced programmatic advertising. As such, we should hopefully see the upward trajectory of budgets continue.”
Luke Fenney, SVP Publishers and Platforms, International, LiveRamp:
“The continuous resilience of marketing budgets in the latest Bellwether report shows brands have learned from consecutive economic shocks: cutting ad spend is not a viable solution for revenue protection.
“The report points to AI as one of the clearest opportunities for marketers to support that resilience. These autonomous systems unlock unprecedented scale, efficiency, insight, and measurement, helping brands navigate increasingly fragmented customer journeys – which now also include many AI surfaces throughout. However, investing in AI without addressing your data foundation is a strategic dead end.
“AI is only as good as the signals it receives, and no single business can provide the full picture on its own. To set AI investments up for success, these autonomous systems require robust collaboration networks powered by structured, permissioned data. Only then can they make the trusted decisions required to navigate complex customer journeys and prove incremental outcomes, leading to sustained boosts to marketing.”
Ed Wale, VP International at LG Ad Solutions:
“It’s highly encouraging to see investment in video advertising revised up to its highest level in almost two years. As advertisers continue investing despite economic uncertainty, every media investment is under greater pressure to demonstrate business impact.
“In CTV, one of the biggest opportunities is reaching audiences before content is even chosen. That’s where the TV Home Screen has an edge. A key point of discovery, it sits across streaming services rather than within them, and enables advertisers to engage viewers at a high attention moment when they’re actively deciding what to watch.
“As video investment continues to grow, advertisers are looking for environments that combine premium attention with measurable outcomes. The Home Screen, as the first thing viewers see, is uniquely positioned to deliver both.”
Steph Hallam, Co-founder of RAAS LAB:
“The latest report confirms that our industry is maturing from AI as a novel experiment to a structural and competitive advantage. While it has been high on the industry’s agenda this year, it’s no longer about ‘if’ we use it, but about ‘how’ to use it to drive performance and grow market share.
“Concerns about creative mediocrity stemming from AI are valid. As the technology has grown in use, so too has content and advertising that lacks authenticity – something audiences can see right through. This highlights a failure in execution rather than in the AI itself. The opportunity, however, lies in using it to enable creativity, agility, and Relevance at scale. Rather than pumping out generic ads, AI can help to ensure maximum impact with campaigns that perfectly align with the context.
“We need to move beyond the poor practice of AI slop and harness it for sustained growth and optimisation. That’s where budgets should be invested.”
Ed Barter, CPO and Co-Founder, Herdify:
“The report is a refreshing reminder that in economic uncertainty, budgets should remain focused on long-term brand building. While it’s tempting for brands to focus on short-term results such as website traffic and conversion rates, playing the long game is a much more effective way to achieve sustained growth.
“Data in the report shows investment is being spent where real-world connections matter most. Events are leading the way with strong performance, showcasing that brands know that people value human-to-human connections. Similarly, there is a steady commitment to direct marketing, proving a focus on building awareness amongst communities, where word-of-mouth spreads.
“In an industry which has been disrupted by AI, real, resilient growth is happening in the places where social connections matter. The brands investing in connecting with their audiences in real life, creating social proof and building contagion are the ones that will benefit in the long run.”
Olly Lewis, Head of Agency and Senior Vice President at StudioB:
“The revision of video advertising to its highest level in nearly two years is a clear reflection of shifting audience behaviour; viewers are increasingly turning to engaging, entertaining content on social media and streaming platforms. And it’s not just short-form; we’re seeing brands build systems of short videos around hero long-form content, especially on YouTube.
“While the uplift is a positive sign, it’s important that brands get it right. Intrusive adverts disrupt the viewing experience, risking disengagement. Whereas content that fits seamlessly into where the audience is scrolling or browsing will leave a lasting impression. Looking ahead, I expect video will only grow, especially with scripted content, where the biggest opportunity lies. The savviest brands will be those investing in episodic, character-led video that effectively builds a valuable, highly engaged audience over time. Those who build worlds and IP they can own will earn attention.”
Mateusz Rumiński, VP of Product at PrimeAudience:
“The latest Bellwether findings reinforce the resilience of the marketing industry. Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, businesses continue to invest in marketing, but the focus is shifting towards where those budgets are spent and which solutions can deliver the greatest impact. As more AI-powered technologies emerge, advertisers are reassessing how they evaluate channels and partners to ensure investment decisions deliver meaningful results.
“What’s equally interesting, however, is the industry’s recognition that AI has moved beyond experimentation and is becoming a practical tool to help teams focus on higher-value work. But competitive advantage won’t come from using AI in isolation. It will come from combining it with high-quality data, strong audience strategies and human expertise.
“As adoption continues to accelerate, marketers will increasingly judge AI on the outcomes it delivers rather than the technology itself. Those that invest in trusted audience data and use AI to enhance decision-making, rather than replace it, will be best placed to create more relevant campaigns and make every marketing pound work harder.”
Maor Sadra, CEO & Co‑founder, INCRMNTAL:
“The Bellwether isn’t really a story about resilient budgets. It’s a story about rising standards. Businesses are less confident, but marketing investment is holding up because CMOs know growth still requires investment. What has changed is their tolerance for waste.
“That’s why the industry is shifting from measuring activity to measuring decisions. It’s no longer enough to know what happened – you need to know where the next pound should go.
“In this market, that’s the difference between protecting budget and protecting growth.”
Matt Bahr, CEO and co-founder of Fairing:
“The Bellwether reflects a broader shift in how marketers are thinking about growth. Budgets haven’t disappeared, but confidence that every digital channel deserves investment certainly has.
“As AI changes how consumers discover products, marketers are under greater pressure to understand which channels are genuinely creating demand, rather than simply collecting the last click. That’s prompting a move away from indiscriminate digital spend towards channels that build awareness and trust, whether that’s audio, creators or tv.
“The challenge is that many of those influences still sit outside traditional attribution. As the customer journey becomes less linear, measurement needs to evolve too. Otherwise, brands risk cutting the very channels driving future growth simply because they’re the hardest to measure.”
Owen Griffiths, Commercial Director of The Sun:
“The rapid growth in video tracks with what we’ve been seeing in the market – brands are looking for high-quality, brand-safe video hosted in a trusted media environment with transparent targeting and measurement capabilities. The video market has matured and I think that savvy marketers have realised that not all video inventory is born equal. It’s a very different proposition to be integrated into original content from a trusted media brand than it is to have your advertising sit amongst a pool of unchecked UGC content with targeting run via a black box algorithm rather than transparent insight based on quality first-party data. The Sun Originals video programming stream is getting significant buy-in from clients and agencies who see a fantastic opportunity to integrate into a quality video proposition that’s reaching valuable audiences at scale.”
Shane Buckley, Head of Restaurants UKI at Uber Advertising:
“The latest IPA Bellwether shows marketers doubling down on long-term brand-building activity – investing in reach, but also building real connections. Consumers don’t live in channels; they live in moments. As the purchasing journey fragments across platforms and devices, the industry needs to focus on understanding those moments that influence decisions.
“Video’s surge in investment this quarter is a good proof point of that: strong creative earns its place in everyday moments that shape behaviour – deciding where to eat, making plans with friends, travelling across a city or preparing for an event. These are moments when relevance matters; advertising that shows up in the right context, with strong storytelling, adds value and builds lasting brand awareness.
“The opportunity for brands is to combine that high-quality creative with richer, full-funnel data, to deliver ads that feel more timely, useful and connected to what consumers are actually doing. That same data is also what lets advertisers keep sharpening the creative itself: testing formats, making campaigns more interactive, and iterating based on what’s actually driving action. That’s what turns relevance into measurable outcomes, whichever channel it’s delivered through.”
The companies listed above are clients of Bluestripe Group, the publisher of New Digital Age.
