The UK advertising industry continues to grow, with adspend reaching £5.7bn in Q1 2018, up 5.9% year-on-year.
Figures, released as part of the latest Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report, also confirmed the first quarter of 2018 as the strongest first quarter in three years and the 19th consecutive quarter of market growth.
Radio and digital proved to be the biggest drivers of adspend, with radio up 12.5, the strongest growth performance for four years. Out of home grew 5.3% while TV was up 5.0%. Print display ad revenue for national news brands rose for the first time in seven years, adding to the positive results for the quarter.
Additional insights from the findings include:
- Adspend growth forecasts for this year have been upgraded by 0.6pp to 4.8%
- Search now accounts for almost three in ten pounds spent on advertising in the UK, with spend growing consistently since monitoring began in 2001
- Excluding direct mail, spend on display formats rose 6.0%, the strongest sector growth since the final quarter of 2015.
A full summary of the 2018 forecasts 
can be viewed below:
The Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report is the definitive measure of advertising activity in the UK. It is the only source that uses advertising expenditure gathered from across the entire media landscape, rather than relying on estimated or modelled data. Find out more here >