The UK advertising market appears to have brushed aside fears about the health of the economy by registering a 6.9% rise in spending in 2010 over the previous year to total £15.5bn. According to an Advertising Association/Warc expenditure report, this rise meant that 2010 was strongest year for ad spend growth since the dot.com boom of 2000. Experts say that major sales opportunities such as the World Cup encouraged marketers to loosen the purse strings.

However, those positive figures have to be seen in the light of predictions for this year that growth will dip to 2.9%, due to a relatively weak economy and falling consumer confidence. That seems to be confirmed by a recent Media Guardian report about falling advertising sales at ITV. Media buyers said there was a slowdown in TV advertising bookings for May. However, the AA/WARC report is forecasting a 5.5% increase in 2012 when the economy and advertising are expected to revive. It is believed that ad spend will be boosted by the London Olympics.

Across 2010 as a whole, TV was the fastest-growing medium, with an overall increase of 15.8% - its strongest growth rate since 1986. This represents a major improvement on the previous year, which saw television ad spend fall by 10.1%. But the results for press advertising were mixed as national newspapers increased spend by 6% in 2010 but regional papers and magazines fared less well, dropping 6.4% and 5.9% respectively. PS