TV and newspapers will bear the brunt of a more than £200m reduction in ad spending driven by uncertainty over the financial impact of a potential Brexit vote in this week’s European referendum, according to the world’s largest advertising group.
GroupM, the media arm of Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP, has downgraded its forecast of UK ad growth for 2016 by £220m between its November and June forecasts, with the market only expected to bounce back in the event of a vote to remain in the EU.
The latest forecast says that TV and national newspaper print advertising will bear almost the entire brunt of jittery advertisers who have chosen to hold back on committing marketing budgets until the result of the referendum is known.