Google and Meta accounted for at least half the record £42.6bn spent on UK advertising last year, according to Press Gazette estimates.
Display advertising and search were the two biggest advertising segments and also the fastest growing. They are dominated by Meta and Google respectively.
By contrast, advertising with national and regional newsbrands grew at a far slower rate than the overall market in 2024 and magazine industry advertising fell in both print and online, according to figures published by the Advertising Association/WARC.
The data suggests online display advertising was the fastest-growing UK advertising segment in 2024 – up 15.1% year-on-year to £16.7bn. This includes social media and online video platforms like Youtube.
Social media comprised 53% of that total, or £8.9bn.
According to data published by Statista, as of November 2024 Facebook accounted for 60% of social media visits in the UK and Instagram 14% – suggesting parent company Meta’s share of UK social media adspend is in excess of £6bn.
Search advertising was the second fastest growing major segment in 2024, up 12.8% to £16.9bn. Google accounts for around 90% of online searches in the UK, giving it a likely total revenue from search alone of around £15bn.
Google also takes a sizeable chunk of online display advertising revenue via its ownership of Youtube and platforms such as Google Ads, Google Ad Manager and Google Marketing Platform.
Google’s online advertising tools are so ubiquitous that last month the US Department of Justice ruled that it had a monopoly when it comes to the technology which underpins online advertising.
Globally, Google Network revenue (from advertising services) and Youtube totalled $66.6bn in 2024 compared with $198.1bn from search. Assuming a similar revenue split in the UK (i.e. that Google Network and Youtube revenue in the UK is as third as big as its revenue from search) then Google’s share of the UK display advertising market would be worth £5bn, giving it total UK revenue in the region of £20bn.
This estimate gives Google and Meta combined UK advertising revenue of £26bn, or more than ten times the amount spent with all national news brands, magazines, regional titles and radio stations combined.
Overall, national newsbrand advertising revenue is estimated by AA/WARC to have fallen 4.3% in 2024 to £726.5m. Online growth of 2.5% in this sector to £346.2m failed to cancel out print decline.
Regional newsbrands fell 3.5% to £438.2m with online growth of 3.8% to £248.2m.
And the magazine industry saw ad revenue fall both overall, by 7.2% to £469.3m, and online, by 5.3% to £258.9m.
In 2007 press advertising – magazines and newspapers combined – was worth £7.1bn in the UK, or 39% of the £17bn total UK adspend. National and regional newsbrands plus maazines now account for 3.8% of UK annual advertising spend, according to AA/WARC.
Looking at the general picture, Advertising Association chief executive Stephen Woodford said: “While the UK advertising industry growth is well ahead of UK growth, it’s worth noting business confidence may weaken due to geopolitical headwinds and regulatory uncertainty, which could impact on the way businesses commit to spend on advertising.”
Despite its huge revenue, Meta has been unable to stop scam financial adverts which steal the identities of prominent journalists and investment professionals from proliferating on its Facebook platform.
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