Facts and Figures compiled by the IPA Information Centre - info@ipa.co.uk

Please contact the Information Centre for recently-released statistics

Overview of UK adspend trends

In 2010, total adspend rose by 8.1% since 2009, to £16.7bn - the strongest year for adspend growth since the dotcom boom of 2000.

Total display spend grew 10.8% in 2010 whilst total classified spend increased 1.9%.

TV, internet and out of home saw their shares of display spend increase, whilst TV was the fastest-growing medium with an overall increase of 15.8% since 2009.

Display advertising growth of just +1.4% is expected for 2011, with a recently-lowered prediction of +4.6% during 2012.


Share of UK display adspend 2010:

Source: Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report


Total UK adspend annual % change (at constant prices):


Source: Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report


Total UK adspend annual % change (at current prices):



Source: Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report


The IPA/BDO produces the Bellwether Report, a quarterly survey of marketing budgets, published by Markit.

League Tables

Some of these may require subscription access:

Brand Republic

New Media Age's Top 100 Interactive Agencies

Brad Insight – The UK Top 100 Advertisers 2011

BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands

Brand Finance League Tables – countries, industry sectors

Ranking the Brands – assorted ranking tables

RAR Recommended Agency Register Top 100 agency businesses outside London

The Drum's Digital Top 100 agencies

Creative industries – value and employment trends/facts and figures

The IPA publishes an Agency Census , a survey of employment trends within IPA member agencies. Free to IPA members.


Creative Industries Economic Estimates (Dec 2011 - DCMS) reports state:

• In 2011 there were 106,700 creative enterprises which accounted for 5.13% of all UK's enterprises.
• Between 2009 and 2011, advertising has seen the greatest change in the number of enterprises, rising from 13,930 to 16,010 (0.65% to 0.77% of the UK).
• In 2009 the Creative Industries contributed £36.3 billion in GVA to the UK (2.89% of the UK's GVA). Within the Creative Industries Publishing, Advertising and TV & Radio provide the greatest contribution to the UK's GVA (£11.6 billion, £5.9 billion and £5.3 billion respectively).
• In 2010, Labour Market Statistics reported that 268,254 people were employed in advertising , accounting for 0.92% of UK employment

Other valuable data on advertising/creative industry employment, its contribution to the economy etc. is available within this report:

The Contribution of the Advertising Industry to the UK Economy (Nov 2011 – Credos and the Work Foundation)


The Creative & Cultural Skills Advertising – Impact and Footprint report examines the nature of the businesses and workforce in advertising, cultural heritage, craft, design, music and the arts. Figures are updated every two years and cover employment by region, qualification, wage, gender, ethnicity, business size etc.



If you require more detailed information on any of the above topics, please contact the IPA Information Centre via info@ipa.co.uk