Ad growth to reach 6 per cent next year, says AA

UK advertising expenditure has crashed through the &£15bn barrier for the first time, after rising by more than six per cent in the last year. The current growth is predicted to continue into next year, according to the Advertising Association (AA).

According to the AA’s figures, advertising expenditure increased by &£917m to &£15.3bn between 1998 and 1999, a rise of 6.4 per cent. This was the eighth successive year-on-year increase.

The AA’s research adviser Mike Waterson, who compiled the figures, says next year’s figures are on course to go up by a similar amount. “There has been a long period of growth in advertising expenditure.

“There have been a number of special factors such as dot-com advertising, but most sectors are showing solid underlying growth. Figures for the first months of this year suggest there will be another six per cent increase. The industry is much bigger than it was ten years ago and most people are using more advertising because of increased competition.”

The biggest increase was seen in cinema advertising, which went up by almost 25 per cent from &£97m to &£123m. Direct mail and radio advertising also grew significantly.

TV expenditure rose from &£4.03bn to &£4.32bn and press advertising, including regional and national papers and magazines, went up from &£7.53bn to &£7.83bn.

Advertising also recorded its largest ever share of Gross Value Added (formerly Gross Domestic Product) at 1.95 per cent.