What do the 2018 UK Adspend figures tell us?

The UK Adspend results are in…

This morning we were at the IAB UK HQ for the announcement of their 2018 UK adspend figures. This highly anticipated research has become the standard for adspend figures within the UK and is used across the industry.

This year, the IAB announced that rather than solely focusing on the growth of the industry, in 2018 they began to look more closely at transparency, fairness and sustainable growth within the digital advertising industry.

This led to a number of new initiatives including the IAB Gold Standard certification which Unruly qualified for last year, and a new set of Transparency FAQs in which Unruly was one of the 10 founding companies to complete them and as a result, be truly open about how our business works and where we add value in the chain.

So, let’s get into the findings…

Total UK digital market adspend in 2018 stood at £13.44bn
15% increase in UK adspend (£1.76bn) year-on-year
31.5% increase in UK adspend on smartphone
51% of all digital adspend is on smartphone (This means that 2018 really was the year of the smartphone, with digital advertising on the smartphone making up for more than any other digital medium for the first time)

So, what about video?

Video is the largest display format making up 44% of display (£2,307m)
Video is driving the majority of growth in display, up 33% from 2017 (2,307m vs. 1,739m)
21% of smartphone display is video, and 81% is video and native
45% growth year-on-year in smartphone video (£1,748m vs. £1,202m)
76% of all video adspend is on smartphone

Outstream has increased its majority of total video spend
Outstream made up 57% of total video adspend

“As the quality of smartphone handsets continues to improve with bigger, better, higher quality screens coupled with faster WIFI or 4G connectivity and affordable data plans, users are spending more time consuming more video content on their phones. And the more content that is consumed the more ad opportunities they are presented with.

It’s not only the experience and accessibility that is improving but the ad formats themselves. Clients and planners are now thinking mobile first and using mobile formats that fit with how users consume content on their phones.” – Dave Foster, Dentsu Aegis

So, where are we headed?

It’s amazing to see the continued growth in UK adspend, and how video continues to grow and outperform all other formats.

As we continue into 2019, with the emergence of new technologies including 5G and new screens and surfaces, and the need to stand out in an ever growing and saturated marketplace, we believe video will continue its strong growth. Continuing to open up new and exciting opportunities, and ways for brands and advertisers to reach their consumers.

Click here to access all the results.