Sky has returned to the top of the table of the UK’s biggest traditional advertisers in 2019, after it increased spend by 44% (£54.7m) year on year to £178.8m, according to Nielsen data.
Procter & Gamble, which last year nabbed the top spot from Sky – which in turn had stolen it from the FMCG giant the year before – reduced spend by almost the same amount, £50.3m, to £137.5m – equivalent to a 27% drop. It fell to third place behind McDonald’s, which grew its spend 24% to £151.6m.
Meanwhile, Amazon, which last month was named the world’s biggest advertiser, overtaking P&G, grew its UK spend by 29% to £113.9m, taking fourth place from BT, which dropped spend by 20% to £87.3m.
The top 10 advertisers last year – a list also comprising RB, Unilever, Tesco, Camelot (a newcomer in the top 10) and Asda – increased their advertising spend by 6% to £1.05bn.
In forecasts in January, Dentsu Aegis Network slightly revised down its estimate for growth in the UK ad market in 2020 to 6%, while the Advertising Association and Warc also slightly lowered their forecast to 5.2%.
There are concerns the coronavirus outbreak could have a detrimental impact on the ad market, however, with ITV last week forecasting a 10% drop in ad revenue in April as a result of the situation.