UK ad spend up 9.3% in Q1, but linear TV keeps the total flat

The AA/WARC Expenditure Report puts UK Q1 2026 ad spend at £11.7bn, up 9.3% year on year. Addressable TV grew 15.5% — linear declines held total TV to 0.8%.

UK advertisers spent £11.7 billion in the first quarter of 2026, 9.3% more than a year earlier, according to the latest Expenditure Report from the Advertising Association and WARC. Both bodies revised their forecasts for 2026 and 2027 upwards on the back of it.

The growth was not evenly spread. Retail media rose 17.9%, social media 17.7% and out-of-home 15%. Search remained the single largest channel at £4.6 billion. Radio grew 4.2%. On the other side of the ledger, cinema fell 17.6%, published media 5.9%, and the 'other online display' category 10.7%.

The number worth reading twice

Television finished the quarter at 0.8% growth — effectively flat. That figure hides the real story: addressable TV grew 15.5% while linear sales continued to decline, and the two almost cancelled out.

A flat total is not a stagnant market. It is a market moving its money from one way of buying to another, inside the same medium.

What it means for sellers outside the UK

The UK is several years ahead of most markets on addressable inventory, which makes its numbers a leading indicator rather than a curiosity. The pattern it describes — linear holding reach while the growth sits in targeted, measurable formats — is the one every broadcaster eventually meets.

The practical lesson is about infrastructure, not strategy. Selling both models at once means one team quoting on GRP and CPP and another quoting on impressions and completion, against a single inventory pool, without double-booking a break. Broadcasters that keep those two worlds in separate spreadsheets discover the problem at reconciliation, a month after the campaign.

Source: VideoWeek, citing the Advertising Association and WARC Expenditure Report.