London, July 30, 2026: The Advertising Association and WARC have today published the latest quarterly advertising Expenditure Report, revealing that UK advertising investment increased by 9.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, reaching a total of £11.7 billion.
The latest report – drawn from a survey of media owners and the industry bodies that represent them – highlights a diverse media landscape where advertisers are actively investing across a variety of established and emerging formats. The Q1 2026 figures show broad-based growth as businesses make the most of the full breadth of the UK’s advertising ecosystem.
Q1 2026 Performance
The new figures reveal a total investment by advertisers of £11.7 billion in media space during Q1 2026. Within this, digital formats have seen particularly notable increases, such as online radio (22.1%) and digital out of home (17.6%). Strong double-digit growth has also been recorded across retail media (17.9%), out of home (15.0%), social media (17.7%), and addressable TV (15.5%). Search (9.8%) continued to account for the largest share of the market, attracting £4.6 billion in investment during the quarter.
Further growth was recorded across direct mail (7.9%), radio (4.2%), digital magazine brands (2.9%) and online classifieds (0.5%), while total TV (0.8%) remained steady during the first quarter.
Looking ahead
AA/WARC forecasts predict an increase in advertising investment of 8.2% to a total of £50.5 billion in 2026. This momentum is expected to continue into 2027, with forecast growth of 5.9%, bringing total investment to £53.5 billion.
Stephen Woodford, Chief Executive, Advertising Association, said:
“The first quarter of 2026 demonstrated the continuing resilience and rapid evolution of the UK advertising industry. With a 9.3% increase in total investment reaching £11.7 billion, it’s clear that advertisers, large and small, are finding value across our entire advertising ecosystem, relying on advertising and marketing services to help them innovate, compete, grow and create jobs.”
Suzy Young, Partner Relations, WARC Data, said:
“The AA/WARC Expenditure Report ensures our investment benchmarks continue to accurately reflect the pace of change in advertising trade. The result is greater clarity and transparency around media investment in the UK, to the benefit of both the media industry and the public at large.”
| MEDIUM | Q1 2026 | 2026 | 2027 |
| Yr-on-yr % change | Yr-on-yr % change | Yr-on-yr % change | |
| Cinema | -17.6% | 2.1% | 4.1% |
| Direct Mail | 7.9% | 2.9% | 0.0% |
| Online Classified | 0.5% | -0.9% | -0.3% |
| Other Online Display* | -10.7% | -19.7% | -35.0% |
| Out of Home | 15.0% | 7.6% | 2.5% |
| of which digital | 17.6% | 9.0% | 3.9% |
| Published Media | -5.9% | -3.0% | -0.3% |
| Magazine Brands | -5.7% | -3.2% | -0.5% |
| of which online | 2.9% | 0.3% | 1.5% |
| National News Brands | -3.7% | -1.7% | -0.5% |
| of which online | -0.8% | 0.8% | 1.7% |
| Regional News Brands | -9.7% | -4.8% | 0.4% |
| of which online | -12.1% | -4.4% | 2.6% |
| Radio | 4.2% | 3.3% | 0.6% |
| of which online | 22.1% | 12.6% | 4.5% |
| Retail Media | 17.9% | 15.9% | 13.0% |
| Search | 9.8% | 8.5% | 6.2% |
| Social Media | 17.7% | 16.5% | 12.8% |
| TV | 0.8% | 3.7% | 3.0% |
| of which addressable | 15.5% | 13.6% | 11.5% |
| ALL MEDIA TOTAL | 9.3% | 8.2% | 5.9% |
* Excludes display revenues from magazine brands, news brands, radio, retail media, social media and TV. Includes audio, gaming, video outstream, display embedded formats, native advertising and section take-overs.
Next steps
The Advertising Association and WARC continue to work closely with representative industry bodies to provide a dataset that reflects a deep understanding of the dynamic advertising and media landscape. This latest dataset follows a new breakdown of the figures which was first introduced in April 2026 following consultation with stakeholders.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Table: Definitions of the mediums represented
| Medium | Definition |
| Cinema | On-screen ads. These are video or static advertisements shown on the big screen before the movie begins. They can range from short commercials to longer promotional content. |
| Direct Mail | Based on a total of postage and non-postage costs. The postage element is based on direct mail sales and survey data. Direct mail includes items such as unrequested catalogues and vouchers/money-off coupons but excludes requested catalogues. Non-postage elements include production costs such as design, printing and packaging. |
| Online Classified | Classified ads for online companies listing specific products or services, e.g. jobs, cars, property, services, B2B. |
| Other Online Display | Excludes display revenues from magazine brands, news brands, radio, retail media, social media and TV. Includes audio, gaming, video outstream, display embedded formats, native advertising and section take-overs. Audio: Audio ads placed within digital music services (e.g., Spotify, Apple Music) and podcasts. Formats include pre-rolls, mid-rolls, and sponsored playlists. Ads in podcasts include sponsorships, host-read ads, or short radio-style spots. Ads can be inserted in real time when you play an episode, edited directly into the audio, or read by the podcast host. Gaming: Ads placed inside or around video games. This can be things like virtual billboards, influencer content, embedded videos, or brand partnerships. The goal is to reach gamers without interrupting their play. These ads are mostly seen in mobile games but also on PC and consoles like Xbox and Play Station. Video outstream: Video ads that appear outside of video content, such as within text articles or on web pages. Embedded formats: Standard display (static or rich media) banner ad units embedded into a web page or app, displaying static or rich media. This does not include ads that appear in-feed, or video formats. Examples include MPUs, leaderboards, skyscrapers, expanding ads, interactive ads, slideshows, GIFs, etc Native advertising/In-feed: Includes advertising formats such as discovery, aggregation, amplification, text placement and curation tools containing third party links whereby revenues are commonly shared between the publisher and technology supplier. An example of this is a discovery tool format, i.e. ‘more from around the web’. Section take-overs/tenancy/sponsored content: Premium placements where a brand takes over an entire section of a site or app, often through a mix of display, native, and/or custom content. These packages often include exclusive branding and visibility in key site areas. |
| Out of Home | Includes classic and digital ad formats across key environments: transport, roadside, and retail as well as other environments. |
| Published Media | Encompasses the total print and online advertising revenue generated by consumer, business, national, and regional magazine and news brand title. To include: Magazine brands – Includes print and online ad revenues for consumer and business magazines across display and classified. Online ad revenues include audio and video. News brands – Includes print and online ad revenues for national and regional news brands across display and classified. Online ad revenues include audio and video, online brand partnerships and distributed content. |
| Radio | Radio includes spot, branded content and online ad format revenues. Online radio includes targeted in-stream radio/audio advertising sold by UK commercial radio companies, together with online S&P inventory. |
| Retail Media (online) | Advertising that takes place within a retailer’s or marketplace’s owned digital properties, such as their website, app, or marketplace platforms. These ads often use the retailer’s first-party data to enhance targeting capabilities and are placed directly within their ecosystem. |
| Search | Excludes retail media. Includes affiliate search listings, search ads and search shopping ads. Affiliate search listings: Paid listings that appear on search engines through affiliate marketing partnerships, where publishers earn commission. Search ads: Text ads that appear in search engine results when people look for keywords. Advertisers pay when someone clicks their ad. Search shopping ads: Visual ads that show products from a retailer’s catalogue in search results. These ads link directly to product pages and are usually paid for on a cost -per-click basis |
| Social Media | Includes ads delivered on social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube). Includes influencer-created video content that is promoted or sponsored. |
| TV | Includes spot advertising, sponsorship, addressable and other TV: Spot: linear advertisements Sponsorship: sponsorship and partnerships Addressable: all addressable formats, including linear addressable, BVOD, pause ads, SVOD, AVOD, FAST, etc. Other TV: all other revenues not included elsewhere, including product placement, AFP, broadcaster revenue from YouTube, licensing, etc. |
