Pearlfinders Media Spend Data – powered by Nielsen – provides a snapshot of how UK brands are allocating their marketing budgets. Last year, total media spend increased by 25%, with investment in outdoor media seeing the majority of this growth (up 72%).
But much has changed since then.
Few fully appreciated the degree to which COVID-19 would render certain media channels redundant and others more powerful than ever. Radio consumption, for instance, is up massively, and with a number of big TV advertisers (e.g. travel and leisure brands) not spending there are opportunities for other brands to secure healthy discounts.
On the other hand, those with big OOH or cinema buys will have been considering alternative plans in the short term, although we know media owners are pushing for a deferral of spend. So brands will be weighing up the benefits of having more impact now vs cancellation fees and the promise of better-performing media buys later in the year. Of course, when the restrictions on our movements are relaxed, media spend will dramatically recalibrate again.
In our Media Spend Analysis briefing, we’ve looked at the strategies of the UK’s biggest spenders using 2019’s full and comprehensive media spend data.
We’ve identified brands that substantially increased spend from last year, as well as those new to the top 2,000 spenders list.
This briefing also includes a sector-by-sector analysis, highlighting five brands predicted to shift budgets in 2020
