With a record 26.4% growth for the ad market in 2021, we comment on the latest AA WARC expenditure report
With the latest Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report predicting further growth for the ad market after a record 2021, we look at what this could mean for the digital advertising industry.
AA WARC Key findings:
2021 was the strongest year in UK ad market history, upgrading October’s projection for 2021 (+24.8%) by 1.6 percentage points.
Summer 2021 was the largest-ever summer spend on record, with adspend at £7.3bn.
Total investment for 2022 is set to rise by 8.5% to £32.2bn – meaning the UK market will have expanded by more than a third since 2020.
UK adspend is expected to continue to rise to £32.2bn this year as current projections anticipate 8.5% growth.
Continued growth is also expected from the largest advertising channels, including search (+11.1%), online display (+8.3%) and TV (+5.3%).
Q1 2022 is now forecast to grow 12.6% year-on-year, compared with 10.5% previously.
Jacque Chadwick, Ozone’s Commercial Trading Director, said:
“The strength of the UK ad market throughout 2021 is a clear demonstration of advertisers’ desire to get back on the front foot following the huge uncertainties of 2020. And with an +8.5% growth forecast for 2022, the road ahead is certainly looking positive for the media sector. As an industry, we must not miss the opportunity to make this marketer ‘vote of confidence’ translate into better advertising experiences across the board.
Looking at digital display in particular, forecast to be +8.3% in 2022, many of the issues that persisted throughout the past few years have not totally disappeared - think third-party cookie deprecation, privacy and transparency concerns or addressability challenges. That’s why I believe that the smart advertisers and agencies will be more focused than ever on ensuring their digital campaigns run in quality, effective and brand-safe channels - allowing this projected budget growth to translate to even better outcomes.”
In addition, we were asked to comment on what a strong ad market means for recruitment, employee retainment and workplace benefits across the industry.
Nicola Moretti, Ozone’s Chief People Officer, said:
“There is no doubt that the buoyancy of the 2021 advertising sector has translated into an incredibly strong hiring market, with best-in-class candidates extremely sought after. From our perspective, we have clearly seen that while remuneration remains a key decision point, candidates are putting just as much emphasis on cultural fit, workplace flexibility and other company benefits. At Ozone we also aim to hire individuals who have the potential to do not just their own role, but two roles ahead - a philosophy that has led to 70% of our senior positions being filled internally. And when it comes to school and university leavers, we are highly invested in our Early Careers programme to attract and build an even more diverse team.
As we’ve matured from start-up to scale-up, so too has our approach to engagement and wellbeing. The results from a recent employee survey clearly highlighted a degree of individualism - and indeed lifestage need - in what our team wanted from the business; feedback that led us to structuring our staff packages around the pillars of financial wellbeing, mental and physical wellbeing, and work/life balance. In turn this meant finding the right solutions that could flex to individual needs - one example being our company-wide subscription to YuLife; an app-based service that is as much a wellbeing centre, as it is income protection and life insurance, as it is a gamified challenge to promote physical and mental wellbeing. Our team can use it however works for them.”
