AA/WARC Expenditure Report Q1 2025 – reactions

The latest AA / WARC Expenditure Report has revealed the UK advertising market continued to grow in the first quarter of 2025.

Whilst caution appears to be a watchword these days, some media channels are weathering the current economic and geo-political headwinds with more resilience than others.

Here’s how our industry leaders across the adtech, advertising and media landscape are responding to today’s latest reading…  

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO and co-Founder, esbconnect

“The latest AA/WARC data shows encouraging momentum in UK ad spend, with the Q1 2025 numbers surpassing expectations, up 8% year-and outpacing earlier forecasts.

“Brands are clearly reallocating budgets tactically in response to economic uncertainty and geopolitical volatility.

“What does “tactically” mean here? It suggests advertisers are favouring more agile, accountable and targeted formats – those that can deliver measurable ROI and allow for rapid optimisation.

“Growth in Direct Mail and OOH also suggests that brands are turning to channels that might be less saturated and can help them stand out.

“This tactical shift opens the door to hybrid reactivation strategies. For example, using direct mail to cut through, then intelligently funnelling engagement back to email as a high-converting identity channel, or vice versa.

“With brands pulling budgets forward and prioritising formats like retail media, opportunity lies in tying these intent-rich environments together through first-party data capture and nurture.

“Plus, retail media opens up brands eyes to new channels to test – it’s not all about display and social; there are other channels that may deliver a better return, they just require brands to be prepare to test and innovate – something that has been lacking recently.

“With full-year ad spend forecast to hit a record £45.4bn – and real growth continuing despite flat GDP, this is yet another signal that marketers are back in market, but playing smarter and leaner.”

David Murphy, Snr Press & Commentary Writer, The Digital Voice

“The adtech industry will be encouraged by the headline 8% rise in total ad spend in Q1 2025, which has come in the face of ongoing economic and geopolitical headwinds.

“Even more so by the continued growth forecast for 2025 (6.8%) and 2026 (5.6%). What’s really interesting is how TV overall (down 2.1%), is being propped up by Video on Demand (VOD) services (up 5.1%), after AA and WARC took the decision last quarter to expand the VOD component of TV to include BVOD, SVOD, AVOD and FAST services.

“Yes, streaming TV may have an acronym problem, but given the changing face of TV viewing in the UK and elsewhere, as numerous industry reports have noted, one thing it doesn’t have is an ad revenue problem.”

Piero Pavone, CEO, Preciso
“The key number that everyone in the industry should take heart from here is the 8% rise in total ad spend in Q1 2025 to £10.6bn.

“Following on from the 10.4% rise in full-year ad spend for 2024 reported by AA/WARC a few months ago, this is a sure sign that the confidence we saw returning to the UK ad scene in 2024 is being sustained.

“It’s not all good news, of course, with the publishing industry seeing significant declines in ad spend in national and regional newsbrands, and magazine brands, but there is plenty to cheer in the performance of search, online display and VOD, all of which posted healthy increases.

“All of these are projected to continue on an upward trajectory during 2025, and this optimism is certainly reflected in the conversations we are having with clients right now.”

Also published in: Mediashotz