Adspend for 2017 was a record high following 8 years of continued growth in advertising spend. This according to the latest advertising spend figures for the full year 2017 which are analyzed by The Advertising Association and Warc.
It paints a fantastic picture for marketing and advertising, showing increases which have continued for many years and shows that despite any political situation, slumps or increases in consumer demand, advertising is still producing returns, as marketers are still spending and still depend heavily on their advertising campaigns.
Internet advertising saw positive increases but it was mobile advertising that produced the biggest by far - a massive increase in mobile ad spending of over 37%.
Regional newspapers saw decreases, as did magazines and a small decrease for TV. This could explain why recently UK TV network ITV dropped their late penalty charges, to attract more last-minute advertisers.
Cinema has done nicely with a modest increase in radio ad spending too, as well as an increase in out of home advertising spend. It's clearly not all about digital, though we advise it's part of your marketing mix.
Whatever your marketing strategy, the key is to understand the channels which provide the best returns and engagement to provide you with the return your brand needs. It's great to see radio spend hasn't decreased and that advertisers still believe in the power of radio, out of home and even cinema too.
Advertising works best when you're trying to reach your target audience, it might be regional newspapers aren't delivering as much anymore, whilst radio is, and the targeting digital advertising offers certainly helps with local marketing.
Overall, a strong preference towards mobile is clear to see, as well as digital in general, but advertisers have not forgotten that offline methods still work too.
By Robert Jones
Robert Jones is a specialist in CRO, UX Research, insight and digital Marketing. He is CRO Analyst at Enjoy Digital. He has a Psychology Masters of Research, has run large digital marketing campaigns to build research panels and worked in insight roles for Vision Critical, ASDA and WhatUsersDo. He also managed all of Smart Insights member resources and published several guides including "How to conduct Persona Research" as well as contributing over 100 blog posts to the Smart Insights blog. When he isn’t working on marketing campaigns he is most likely eating authentic Italian food or planning his next short trip. You can connect with Robert on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter.
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