The latest Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report, published yesterday, has drawn a largely positive reaction from across the UK advertising and marketing industry.
The new report revealed that the UK’s ad market recorded a 10.4% increase in investment in 2024, with further growth forecast for this year and next. Reaction included:
Mike Follett, CEO & Founder, Lumen Research
It’s encouraging to see continued investment in marketing budgets, but with ongoing geopolitical instability, brand budgets remain under pressure. And whilst marketers can’t control global uncertainty, they can control campaign effectiveness – and that must be measured, not left to guess work.
That’s why it’s marketers recognising attention as the most powerful predictor of success who are the real winners. Attention is the gateway to memory, action, and ultimately, Return on Investment (ROI). These marketers know if people’s attention isn’t grabbed, the ad doesn’t stand a chance.
For example – retail media alone accounted for two in five pounds spent on UK advertising last year. Our recent study with the Co-op Retail Media Network found that convenience store advertising drives three times more attention than traditional formats and ranks second for brand recall.
As more budget shifts into digital, brands aiming for ambitious growth, would do well to pay more attention – to attention.
Angelique Whittaker, UK head of sales, Azerion UK
Growing ad spend, with this forecast to continue in the near future, is a very positive story, particularly given the overall climate in which this increase has been delivered.
Pulling out a couple of the findings, it’s really encouraging to see that ad spend on connected TV (CTV) is now a fully integrated part of overall TV spend; we’ve watched CTV increase its foothold over the past year, making it a solid player increasingly embraced by agencies and brands as they look for additional routes to finding and measuring their audiences in the TV space.
At the same time, all areas of digital advertising have demonstrated growth, showing the draw of omnichannel. As a consistently unstable environment becomes the new normal, brands and agencies will look to trusted partners that offer the full tech stack. Azerion’s ecosystem for example houses a suite of advertising products under one roof, enabling us to deep dive into each individual channel, while also delivering a holistic view of every campaign.
Elie Kauffmann, head of sales, Audion
It’s encouraging to see that, despite a challenging economic climate, the UK advertising industry is growing at a rate that is ahead of the country’s overall economic growth (GDP). This is good news for the sector, but also the wider business environment.
Within the headline figures, radio advertising is continuing to build momentum. At Audion we’re seeing strong results for audio across the board; this includes digital and streamed radio, music streaming services, and podcasts, with the latter becoming central to how people engage with this channel – making it an increasingly core component of the media mix.
Overall, digital audio advertising – with its unique capacity to engage and connect with audiences at scale – can deliver short-term performance and long-term brand growth. With this latest AA/WARC report forecasting continued growth but with the caveat of business confidence potentially reducing in face of ongoing uncertainty, the audio channel is well-placed to help brands and advertisers achieve their goals.
Will Frappell, Chief Growth Office, Charlie Oscar
This latest data reflects a clear truth: while economic uncertainty continues, ambitious brands aren’t holding back, they’re investing in smart, scalable growth channels. The continued momentum in online display, paid social and search, particularly the sharp rise in retail media, shows that performance and precision remain front of mind for CMOs.
The redefinition of total TV spend to include SVOD, AVOD, and FAST platforms marks a shift in how advertisers are thinking about reach and attention, with the most forward thinking brands shifting to a full funnel approach to customer acquisition.
For challenger brands especially, this is a moment of opportunity. With digital channels accounting for the majority share of ad spend and new formats emerging constantly, there’s more room than ever to punch above your weight. Robust full-funnel measurement is key to success.
As the market grows at a more modest pace in 2025 and 2026, we expect to see the best performing brands doubling down on agility, full funnel measurement, automation and AI to unlock better efficiency and growth at scale.
Gideon Adey, Client Service Director, UniLED Software
7.7% growth in OOH is above all other media except for search and online display – double the growth in TV. Growth in OOH is set to continue in 2025, even against downgraded targets, and OOH is predicted to continue to outstrip other offline media. Growth continues to be driven by DOOH which now represents 66% of revenues in the UK OOH sector.
The WARC figures show increasing confidence and trust in OOH by advertisers and their agents but also mirror the confidence investors have in the medium – with a flurry of significant financial investments into UK OOH this year. This shows this medium is not a short-term investment play, with companies including Bauer Media Group, Wildstone, and NPIF committing long-term, high-value investments into the sector.
Added to this is a growing disconnect between media investment and media consumption. WARC shows £4 in £5 is invested online, set against OOH continuing domination of mean exposure hours per day and weekly reach according to IPA Touchpoints 2024 survey. A savvier investment is OOH/DOOH – a passive medium that delivers ROAS without interrupting or disrupting the consumption of editorial content.
Elizabeth Darcy-Potts, Managing Director, Pipeline360
The AA/WARC figures confirm what we’re seeing across the B2B space: budgets are up, but pipeline performance is not keeping pace. Despite a 10.4% rise in UK ad spend, our own research at Pipeline360 shows that only 12% of UK marketers rate their strategy as ‘exceptional’—and more than half admit to making only limited progress against their pipeline goals. The real issue is late-funnel friction. As over 80% of spend shifts to digital formats like search and display, sales and marketing teams must close the gap between engagement and conversion. Without tighter alignment and clearer accountability, B2B brands risk wasting hard-won demand. In 2025 and beyond, success won’t be defined by how much we spend—it will come down to how effectively we turn attention into action.
Tom Stone, co founder, re:act
The slowdown in growth isn’t surprising given the economic backdrop, but it’s important we don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. Year-on-year growth is still happening, and there’s plenty of evidence to show that investing in brand during periods of uncertainty can pay off in the long term. While consumers may tighten their belts, they continue to buy everyday products, and they remember the brands that show up with relevance and empathy.
A digital-heavy mix gives advertisers the tools to measure effectiveness at every stage of the funnel. But this shouldn’t come at the cost of brand storytelling. Now’s the time to double down on building emotional connections while keeping one eye on performance.
Many clients are still pursuing growth in the UK and Europe, and with the U.S. outlook a little shaky, that presents opportunity. Resilience and adaptability matter. The brands that master both will come out stronger.
