UK advertising market expected to rise to over £12.5 billion in 2013

The marketing battle between BSkyB and BT to sign up pay-TV sports fans and mobile companies' campaigns for 4G services is projected to help boost the UK advertising market to over £12.5 billion in 2013.

The growth of the UK ad market is expected to clock  2.9 per cent this year to £12.58 billion, on increasing TV ad spend as also the growth of mobile advertising, according to the latest report by media buying agency ZenithOptimedia.

The company upgraded its UK TV ad spend forecast to 2.9 per cent year-on-year growth for 2013, after a flat market was projected as recently as June.

The BT, BSkyB  marketing war, the promotion of new 4G services by Vodafone and EE as also the stronger ad spend by car manufacturers had led to  an upgrade for 2013 TV ad spend to £3.32 billion.

The other winner is the mobile ad market, which has witnessed exponential growth boosted by the smartphone and tablet revolution.

According to Zenith, after "several false starts" mobile advertising had now truly arrived and was expected to boom 77 per cent year on year in 2013.

Mobile advertising may be growing at breakneck speed worldwide, but it still accounted for 2.8 per cent of total global ad spend and was valued at just $14.3 billion of $503 billion.

According to Zenith the figure would more than double by 2015 to $33 billion (£20 billion) to emerge as a major segment of the overall internet advertising mix, with further strong growth expected to continue thereafter.

For the UK, Zenith had downgraded its 2013 forecast for national newspaper advertising, from a 4.3 per cent year-on-year fall in June, to 4.7 per cent, while  the decline in regional newspaper advertising had been expected to decline from 7.8 to 8.2 per cent.

Magazine advertising had also been revised from an 8.1 per cent year-on-year drop to, 9 per cent.

According to ZenithOptimedia, radio showed a strong start to the year, with revenue rising 7 per cent for January, while February and March were not so strong, with the first quarter finishing 2 per cent down.

The downward trend continued through the second quarter, with radio revenue down 8 per cent compared to last year, driven major events like the Jubilee and the London Olympics, in 2013.

The total internet advertising in the UK was expected to increase to over £ 5 billion in 2013.