// UK advertising spending in the fourth quarter is expected to reach a record £7.9bn
// Spend on television ads is forecast to increase by 9% to £1.56bn – the fastest annual rate of growth in TV advertising spend since 2010
Advertisers are expected to spend almost £1 billion more marketing their products this Christmas compared to 2020, after last season was dampened by Covid-19.
UK companies are forecast to spend a record £7.9 billion on advertising during the critical “golden quarter” to Christmas, retailers’ most lucrative three-month sales period.
That is the highest quarterly ad spend ever recorded by the Advertising Association and the research firm Warc since figures began being compiled in 1982.
READ MORE: How can retailers capitalise on a chaotic Christmas this year?
Retailers have already started to release their Christmas campaigns with Very launching a humorous campaign encouraging Brits to laugh about people becoming Christmas-obsessed before Halloween has even happened.
Spend on television ads is forecast to increase by 9 per cent to £1.56 billion – the fastest annual rate of growth in TV advertising spend since 2010.
Last year, retailers slashed spending on advertising and toned down their ad campaigns in response to the pandemic, but this year marks the return of the big-budget broadcast extravaganza.
“The latest data demonstrate bullish trade in the UK’s advertising sector despite potential inflationary headwinds and supply chain disruption in the run-up to Christmas,” said James McDonald, the head of data content at Warc.
“Strong fourth-quarter projections for TV – a medium heavily leveraged by retailers during the golden quarter – and search, which encompasses activity on e-commerce platforms, suggest it will be largely business as usual for the industry this year.”
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