UK ad spend will only grow by 0.3% in 2018 according to the Institute Practitioners in Advertising’s (IPA) latest Bellwether report.
Despite tailwinds from tentpole events like the Winter Olympics and the Fifa World Cup, ongoing uncertainty around Brexit negotiations and a slowdown in the rate of digital ad spend growth have paved the way for modest overall progress in the 12 months ahead.
With the door firmly closed on 2017, the IPA has revised its ad spend growth forecast for the last 12 months to 1.4%, having previously capped it at 0.6%. The mark up, it noted, was due to business investment showing some unanticipated buoyancy.
However, there was a loss of momentum in the final three months of the year.