LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - UK advertisers have cut almost £44m from their Christmas TV campaign budgets and shifted their focus to digital media.
Figures published by the Advertising Association and Warc on Wednesday indicate that advertisers are spending more money on sites such as Google, Facebook or YouTube for their Christmas advertising campaigns.

A record £6.4bn is expected to be spent on the UK ad market during festive season, up £300m from last year.

This may have come as as a surprise to some advertisers, as during the summer fourth quarter TV spending had been expected to increase 1.6%. But now is seen falling into negative territory with -1.4% growth (a fall in TV spend to £1.43bn from £1.48bn).

On the other hand, spending on online media is predicted to rise by 12% over the Christmas period to £3.5bn, an increase of £90m compared to 2017.

The online spending is set to be dominated by Google and will rise by about 10% year-on-year to £1.67bn. Money spent on Facebook, will surge by a quarter to £953m. And online video advertising on YouTube will jump by 31% to £667m.

Internet advertising will account for 55% of the total £6.4bn that will be spent on marketing and advertising in the final quarter of the year up from 48% of total spend two years ago.

Last week, broadcaster ITV reported some softening in advertising revenues at the start of the fourth quarter due to Brexit uncertainty. The FTSE 100 company said it expected the fourth quarter to see a 3% decline, with November up 2% but the key month of December falling 6-8%

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