Tech giants set to spend £25bn on advertising this year
Eight tech titans including Google, Facebook and Amazon dominate the global advertising industry and will spend £25bn on advertising this year, according to new research.
Google parent company Alphabet, Facebook, Amazon, Ebay, Netflix, IAC, Uber and Booking.com spent over £20bn on advertising in 2018, and are set to account for five per cent of global spending in the industry this year.
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The research, by media investment company Groupm, also estimates that digital-only businesses will account for almost three quarters of all advertising in the UK by 2024.
It also estimates that the UK’s advertising industry will grow 7.8 per cent in 2019 to £22bn, driven by the digital market.
Groupm estimates that traditional TV advertising will decline 2.3 per cent this year, but will rebound closer to flat next year.
“Pressure on budgets shows up most in big brand partnerships in TV and other media. Sponsorships still sell but are less contested, and the supporting activation — merchandising, content, talent — less elaborate,” said Groupm’s Brian Wieser, who authored the report.
The UK’s advertising sector has expanded by 55 per cent since 2013, the report said, making Britain “unambiguously the fourth largest market on Earth”.
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If current growth trends continue, the UK could match Japan within five years to become the third largest market, but the report warned that ongoing uncertainty could limit growth.
“The key word ‘if’ is difficult to bank on without much certainty around the relationship the UK will have with the rest of Europe, or the health of its own economy over that time horizon,” said Wieser.