Expenditure Report

The Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report is the most trusted source of UK adspend data. The full executive report and access to the data is available via subscription only, however you can submit your details to read the executive summary.

The latest quarterly data shows that:

• UK adspend rose 4.3% in Q3 2022, to a total of £8.5bn. This means spend during the first nine months of the year was up 10.8%, at £25.3bn.
• OOH and cinema continued their strong recovery during the quarter, while search (almost 40% of total spend in Q3 2022) rose by 7.7%.
• Social media, including online display, saw muted growth (+4.4%) by historic standards.
• TV spend declined 6.6% in Q3, following on from a decline in Q2. This was driven by an 8.3% fall in spots spend during the quarter. Spend on BVOD grew, however, by 4.3%.
• Our preliminary estimate for ad market growth in 2022 now stands at 8.8%, to a total of £34.7bn. This is a slight downgrade (-0.4pp) from our projection in October.
• Spend during the 'golden quarter' (Q4 2022) was estimated to be up by 4.0%, to a total of £9.5bn. This was half a point behind forecasts, but a good result given the economic backdrop.
• The UK's ad market is expected to grow by a further 3.8% this year, to a total of £36.1bn. This is on a par with our last forecast, but would equate to a 3.0% real terms decline once inflation is taken into account (compared to a 0.1% real terms fall last year). 

About the AA/WARC adspend data

The Advertising Association/WARC quarterly Expenditure Report is the most trusted source of adspend data. It is a must-have for planning, budgeting, client presentations, strategy or investment advice. You can buy your annual subscription here.