The Advertising Association and WARC latest quarterly expenditure report sees significant investment in online radio and digital out-of-home.
Q1 advertising spend in the UK increased by 9.3% year-on-year (YoY), reaching a total of £11.7bn, according to the latest report by the Advertising Association (AA) and WARC.
New data showed that digital formats have enjoyed a particularly notable performance, with online radio advertising seeing a 22.1% increase, and digital out-of-home (DOOH) a 17.6% rise.
Retail media also saw strong growth at 17.9%, as well as out-of-home (OOH) at 15.01%, social media (17.7%), and addressable TV (15.5%). The largest share of the market is still held by search, which attracted $4.6bn in investment during Q1 – a 9.8% increase.
Stephen Woodford, chief executive of the 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 £11.7bn, 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.”
More modest growth has been recorded in channels such as direct mail (7.9%), radio (4.2%), digital magazine brands (2.9%) and online classifieds (0.5%) – but total TV (0.8%) plateaued in the first part of the year.
Some verticals did decline – published media saw an overall downturn of 5.9%, driven by regional news brands (-9.7%), and magazine brands (-5.7%). Cinema also saw a -17.6% YoY change in Q1 – although it is expected to grow 2.1% by the end of the year.
Looking ahead
AA/WARC has projected adspend to increase by 8.2% to £50.5bn in 2026. This is expected to carry on into 2027, with forecast growth of 5.9%, bringing total investment to £53.5bn.
This is an upward revision compared to AA/WARC’s previous report, which predicted advertising investment to grow by 6.6% to £49.8bn in 2026.
