UK advertising growth to be slowest in Europe

by Ben Bold Brand Republic 21-Nov-06, 12:00

LONDON - The UK will be Europe's slowest-growing major advertising market in 2006, according to a report published by WPP's GroupM, which is predicting gloom for national newspaper advertising.

The "This Year Next Year" report also claimed that, were it not for an anticipated hike in internet advertising over the coming year, the UK will demonstrate similar lacklustre growth in 2007.

While TV advertising is expected to rise from a predicted £3.4bn in 2006 to a mere £3.43bn in 2007, internet advertising is expected to increase from £1.61bn to £2.2bn over the same period, and will represent 18% of media investment in 2007.

According to the report, this growth is largely due to brand advertisers realising the potential of internet marketing and investing far greater sums in the medium.

The report anticipates gloom for national newspaper advertising, which it expects will fall 2.1% from £1.6bn in 2006 to £1.57bn in 2007. It added that upgrading from mono advertising to colour should reap dividends, with the latter attracting more than double the rates of black and white.

On a more buoyant note, the report published good news for the sponsorship market. Group M predicts that, following the triumph of the London 2012 Olympic bid, the sponsorship market will receive a £400m boost, bringing investment to over £1bn.

Elsewhere, the report points out that radio is forecast to get an increase in ad revenues of a paltry £5m to £446m in 2007. It said that, while the commercial digital radio audience has critical mass, accounting for 16% of all commercial radio listening, the medium is poorly sold.

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