TV ad spend hits record high over Christmas period in the UK 2015

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Television advertising spend has grown by 8pc in the UK this year, but is set to be overtaken by the internet by 2018

This Christmas will see a record amount of TV advertising spend in the UK, according to a new report.

The latest global advertising spend forecast by ZenithOptimedia says that £310m (7.9pc of total UK ad spend) will be spent in December – a historic high for TV advertising spend during the Christmas season in the UK. This is up from £287m in 2014.

In fact, the UK spend on TV advertising this year has grown by 8pc to date.

Television remains the dominant advertising medium for now, with a 38pc share of total ad spend in 2015. But this is set to change. The report predicts television’s share of global advertising spend to drop from 38pc to 35pc by 2018.

Instead, the report expects the internet to overtake television to become the largest single advertising medium in 2018.

This is no surprise to those who have watched the internet transform into the primary video-viewing medium for young people. In particular, there’s been a surge in digital video advertising on platforms like YouTube, Facebook and streaming services like Hulu.

In October, Facebook introduced a new feature in partnership with Nielsen that edges close to TV territory by letting marketers buy online video ads similar to how they purchase commercials on TV.

Those online video ads are currently only a tenth of the US television ad market of $70 billion a year, but they are projected to grow 21 pc a year, according to Forrester Research.

Television still offers the advantage of scale and reach, while online video offers pinpoint targeting and personalisation of brand marketing.

The ZenithOptimedia report estimates that wheny ou combine audiovisual advertising – TV plus online video – will account for a record 48.4pc of display advertising in 2015, up from 44.1% in 2010, and expect its share to reach 48.9% in 2018.

“Growth of the global ad market is being driven by advances in technology, especially mobile and programmatic tech,” said Steve King, ZenithOptimedia’s global CEO. “But television remains by far the most important channel for brand communication, and online video, its digital offshoot, is increasing the audiovisual share of global display advertising.”

Via The Telegraph

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