Confidence fuels 11.8% jump in marketing budgets

Marketing budgets have grown for the 10^th consecutive quarter, as a positive first three months of 2015 reflects growing confidence among UK marketers, the latest IPA Bellwether Report shows.

According to the report, the net balance saw a 11.8% increase in the first quarter.

The figures mean that the 2014/15 marketing year ends with the best overall growth for a decade.

The growing market optimism is forecast to continue; a net 28% of companies are preparing to increase budgets in 2015/16.

The internet saw the biggest growth (8.4%) in the first quarter.

The net balance is calculated by subtracting the percentage of companies reporting a downward revision in their budgets from those reporting an upward one.

Paul Bainsfair, the IPA’s director-general, said: “With over ten successive quarters of growth in marketing budgets and the best budget year for marketing spend in a decade, this latest Bellwether provides welcome evidence of the extent to which clients recognise and value the significant contribution marketing communications makes to their business success.”

Tom George, chairman UK and Northern Europe EMEA at MEC and chair of the IPA Media Futures Group, said: “The internet continues to attract an increasing share of budgets and we predict that it will account for over half of all investment for the first time ever this year. This notwithstanding, TV continues to perform remarkably well indicating its importance in long-term brand building and underlining traditional television’s strength in that it has few substitutes.

“Whilst the slowdown in net balance growth for Q1 2015 is noted, so is the increased optimism for 2015/16. This optimism has been translated through to actual media spend with growths of 8 per cent and 6 per cent across the last two years and we see no reason why 2015 growth shouldn’t reach if not exceed last year’s levels. This would be no mean feat in an election year which is normally characterised by uncertainty.”