This week’s AA/WARC Expenditure Report has revealed that advertising and marketing industry is continuing to show huge resilience as a advertisers actively invest across a variety of established and emerging formats.
Digital channels, including online radio, digital out of home, retail media, social media, addressable TV and search all saw growth, yet so did traditional out of home and direct mail, with the market reaching a total of £11.7bn in Q1.
Naturally, the report makes its own conclusions, but Decision Marketing asks leading industry professionals for their take on the findings.
First up is Vudoo managing director of global revenue and partnerships Sarah Lawson Johnston, who says that the increased spend comes with even more accountability, where every channel must now demonstrate clear commercial value.
She explains: “With retail media continuing its rise alongside strong growth in social media and addressable TV, it’s clear that consumer journeys are becoming further fragmented across a diverse mix of media touchpoints.
“Capturing consumer attention on this journey is merely the starting point. When consumers cross between multiple creators, publishers, and streaming platforms, introducing friction between inspiration and action results in direct revenue drop-off. Media spend must move past passive invitations to shop and actively drive in-the-moment conversion.
“Ultimately, the brands making their budgets work hardest this year will be the ones that turn content into seamless, interactive storefronts, turning everyday engagement into measurable transactional outcomes.”
For On Device global head of advertising effectiveness Sarah Robson, the report points to the fact that marketers are tapping into emerging immersive media environments, but as budgets spread across more channels and formats, consumer attention becomes increasingly fragmented, making it harder than ever to understand what’s really driving campaign performance.
She adds: “For many brands, improving lower-funnel metrics such as brand consideration is now the biggest challenge. Yet channel-specific metrics like viewability, CTR and completion rates reveal nothing about whether advertising is actually changing how consumers think or feel about a brand.
“To sustain momentum, marketers need to move beyond measuring channels in isolation and instead understand how their entire media mix contributes to brand lift. Today’s measurement technology makes that possible, providing robust, cross-channel evidence of what’s working, why it’s working and how to optimise future campaigns. The capability exists; the industry simply needs to make better measurement a priority.”
Meanwhile, Launch chief executive and co-founder Jaye Cowle reckons that, in a climate where growth is still hard to come by, advertisers are upping budgets to chase it. Being smart about how they do that can lead to long-term growth, not just short term revenue.
She continues: “While it’s encouraging to see continued positive growth momentum and adspend, agencies and brands aren’t necessarily feeling it in terms of measurable results. The simple reason is an increase in costs caused by media inflation.
“Competition has increased and business conditions remain tough. And, as a result, advertisers and agencies are continuing to divert their spend toward short-term fixes. More often than not, this includes revenue-generating tactics such as search campaigns or social media conversion campaigns that support the discount sales. So, the results of this report are not surprising.
“However, to counter that, social spend is up higher than search. This is something that we’re both advising on and seeing as brands shift their media mix to cheaper awareness campaigns on Meta. And this approach is delivering great results.”
Next up is Converge chief executive Ian Maxwell, who insists that the report shows that the market isn’t just proving resilient, it’s undergoing structural transformation.
He comments: “The strongest growth is coming from channels that combine broad reach with data, automation and measurable outcomes, reflecting a shift in how media is bought and optimised. Programmatic is the foundation of digital advertising, while AI is providing the intelligence that helps marketers optimise budgets, audiences and performance in real time.
“But AI is only as effective as the infrastructure behind it. Advertisers need connected platforms, trusted data and greater transparency to ensure automation delivers measurable business outcomes rather than just scaling inefficiency. The real differentiator won’t be who spends the most, but who combines data, AI and transparent infrastructure most effectively to maximise spend.”
Over at UniLED Software, sales director Sam Holland is encouraged by the continued growth across the out-of-home sector, with digital once again leading the way. However, as adspend increases, expectations follow suit.
He explains: “Advertisers are demanding greater transparency and accountability around campaign performance. They want to understand not only where their money is being spent, but also what that investment is delivering and how OOH contributes alongside the rest of the media mix.
“DOOH is already recognised as a channel that offers greater flexibility, enabling advertisers to adapt campaigns in real-time and deliver more relevant, data driven campaigns. However, its next phase of growth will be driven by its continuous ability to demonstrate tangible outcomes, giving advertisers the confidence to invest further and helping OOH secure a greater share of media budgets.”
The final word goes to Azerion VP strategy and growth Roxanne Harley, who says: “It’s great to see continued growth across digital audio and OOH, we’re seeing that momentum reflected in our own business. Increased investment in online radio and programmatic digital OOH shows advertisers are starting to recognise just how far these channels have come.”
While she believes campaigns can be linked to outcomes such as footfall and sales, not just awareness, the next step is continuing to educate the industry on what these channels can really deliver to keep up spending momentum.
However, she cautions: “While it’s great to see growth areas, we should be realistic. Budgets remain under pressure and the industry is facing restructuring and job losses; continued increase in adspend will rely on proving effectiveness and giving advertisers confidence to keep investing.”
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