All Spend

In Q2 2023, advertisers listed on ALF spent £3.04bn on campaigns. This represented a fall of 3% from £3.13bn in Q1 and 10% from £3.37bn in Q2 2022.

TV was the media channel with the highest spend, on £1.09bn (equivalent to 36% of the total), ahead of digital on £884m (29%), outdoor on £423m (14%), radio on £212m (7%), press on £157m (5%), direct mail on £155m (5%), cinema on £51m (1.7%), TV sponsorship on £42m (1.4%) and door drop on £22m (0.7%).

Top five increased spenders

• Amazon spent £63.3m in Q2 2023, an increase of £35.3m, or 126%, on the same period a year earlier. The figure included £44.4m on brand building, and £10.2m on Prime Video ads. Media split: 77% digital; 12% TV; 7% outdoor
• Unilever shelled out £80.5m, a rise of £29.4m, or 58%, on Q1 2022, with sizeable campaigns for Lynx (£11.2m), Dove Deodorant (£10.1m), TRESemmé (£7.4m), Persil (£7.3m) and Wall’s Magnum (£7.3m). Media split: 70% TV; 25% outdoor
• Bytedance had a budget of £23.7m, up from only £600,000 a year earlier, with £22.9m focused on the TikTok app. Media split: 96% digital
• Grammarly spend amounted to £22m, skyrocketing by £21.8m, as it stepped up advertising for its AI-powered writing assistant. Media split: 100% digital
• Telefonica invested £22.4m in Q2, growth of £15.6m on the equivalent quarter in 2022. The main brands to feature in its campaigns were giffgaff (£9.2m), O2 Switch Up (£6.1m) and O2 Mobile/Tablet Services (£5m). Media split: 44% TV; 21% outdoor; 12% cinema; 10% digital; 8% radio; 5% press.

Click here to view the top 100 increased spenders report

Top 10 highest spending brands

• Amazon Corporate - £44.5m
• McDonald’s - £25.0m
• TikTok - £22.9m
• BT Broadband Services - £17.3m
• Property Guides - £16.9m
• Sky Stream - £14.9m
• Jet2.com - £14.6m
• Lotto - £14.2m
• Disney+ - £13.9m
• Universal Pictures - £13.4m

Selected companies that spent in Q2 2023 having not spent in Q2 2022

• Hypido spent £7.1m to promote its international mortgage services. Media split: 100% digital
• Oddballs paid out £5.2m to advertise its distinctive underwear collections. Media split: 100% digital
• Nexters Global invested £3.3m on campaigns for its online action video game Hero Wars. Media split: 100% digital
• Creditflix had a budget of £2.4m for advertising of its debt solutions. Media split: 93% radio; 7% TV
• Direct Cremations Ireland assigned £2.2m to promote its funeral services. Media split: 100% digital

In Q2, ALF advertisers spent £1.09bn on TV campaigns, down 8% from £1.19bn in Q1 and 13% from £1.26bn in Q2 2022. TV accounted for 36% of all advertising spend, compared with 38% in Q1 and 37% in Q2 2022.

Top five spenders

• Unilever UK spent £56m on TV advertising in Q2, up a mammoth 743% on the previous quarter and 33% year on year. The most promoted brands were Dove Deodorant (£7.5m), Lynx (£6.9m), Dove Skincare (£6.3m), TRESemmé Range (£5.4m) and Persil (£4.9m). TV as a % of overall budget: 70%
• Procter & Gamble shelled out £27.4m, an increase of 36% on Q1 and 41% on Q2 2022. The bulk of spend was on Fairy (£4.6m), Febreze (£5.3m), Lenor (£3.7m), Flash (£3.4m) and Ariel (£3.1m). TV as a % of overall budget: 98%
• Procter & Gamble (Health & Beauty Care) committed £22.3m to TV, representing growth of 23% on the previous quarter, but a decline of 4% year on year. The highest outlays were on Olay (£3.5m), Head & Shoulders (£3.3m), Gillette men’s razors (£2.2m), Oral B toothpaste (£1.6m) and Pantene Pro V (£1.6m). TV as a % of overall budget: 95%
• Reckitt spent £21.2m, up 20% on Q1 and 31% on Q2 2022. A majority of this budget went on campaigns for Vanish (£4.5m), Air Wick (£3.7m), Finish (£3.5m), Dettol (£1.7m) and Calgon (£1.7m). TV as a % of overall budget: 83%
• L’Oréal invested £18.8m in the medium, 10% more than in the previous quarter and 42% higher than a year earlier. Brands to get significant exposure included Maybelline (£2.1m), CeraVe (£2m), Garnier Skin Active (£2m), Elvive haircare (£1.7m) and Vichy skincare (£1.6m). TV as a % of overall budget: 58%

Click here to view the top 100 spending companies in TV

Top five highest spending brands

• BT Broadband Services – £10.1m
• Lotto – £8.4m
• Tesco Food Products – £7.6m
• Dove Deodorant – £7.5m
• Sky Stream – £7.4m

Biggest year-on-year increases

• Jaguar Land Rover increased its outlay on TV advertising from just £188k in Q2 2022 to £3.3m in Q2 2023, with activity focused on the Land Rover Defender range. TV as a % of overall budget: 55%
• Subway dedicated £3.5m to the medium, compared with just £264k a year earlier. TV as a % of overall budget: 40%
• Premier Foods had a TV advertising budget of £5.7m, a rise of 361% from £1.2m. The brands that received the most promotion were Sharwood’s (£1.7m), Bisto (£854k), Mr Kipling (£830k), Batchelors Super Noodles (£811k) and Ambrosia (£710k). TV as a % of overall budget: 97%

Selected companies that spent in Q2 2023 having not spent in Q2 2022

• GetYourGuide Deutschland spent £2.9m on TV advertising for its online platform for tours, attractions and activities. TV as a % of overall budget: 81%

TV Sponsorship Spend

In Q2, advertisers that appear on ALF spent £42m on TV sponsorship, up 5% from £40.1m in the previous quarter, but up a significant £157% from £16.4m in Q2 2022. The channel accounted for 1.4% of all advertising spend, compared with 1.3% in Q1 and just 0.5% in Q2 2022.

Top five spenders

• Argos spent £2.4m on its sponsorship of Coronation Street, 2% less than in Q1 and 18% less than in Q2 2022. TV sponsorship as a % of overall spend: 29%
• Viking River Cruises invested £2.3m in its sponsorship of ITV programming, an increase of 25% on the previous quarter and 16% year on year. TV sponsorship as a % of overall spend: 50%
• Entain paid £2.3m on Gala Bingo’s sponsorship of ITV show The Chase, down 11% on Q1, and having not spent in the same quarter last year. TV sponsorship as a % of overall spend: 28%
• CareCo had a budget of £2.2m for its sponsorship of ITV3 programming, a rise of 50% on Q1 and 23% on Q2 2022. TV sponsorship as a % of overall spend: 41%
• Volkswagen spent £2.1m, a fall of 6% on the previous quarter but a climb of 492% year on year. This was focused on Cupra’s sponsorship of ITV’s Mystery Drama (£1.7m) and VW’s sponsorship of ITV Movies (£353k). TV sponsorship as a % of overall spend: 16%

Click here to view the top 100 spending companies in TV sponsorship

Top five highest spending brands

• Argos - £2.4m
• Viking River Cruises - £2.3m
• Gala Bingo – £2.3m
• CareCo - £2.2m
• Assistive Bathing - £1.8m

Digital Spend

In Q2 2023, advertisers in ALF spent £884m on digital advertising, 8% less than in Q1 and 17% less than in Q2 2022. Digital accounted for 29% of all Q2 advertising spend, compared to 31% in Q1 and 32% in Q2 2022.

Top five spenders

• Amazon invested £49m in digital advertising, 13% less than it spent on the medium in Q1 but 324% more than it invested in Q2 last year. Along with £43m on corporate advertising, Amazon invested £2.8m in Amazon Prime Video. Digital as a percentage of overall budget: 77%
• ByteDance, owner of TikTok, spent £23m in the second quarter, more than three times its Q1 digital budget and a huge increase on the £593k it invested in Q2 2022. Digital as a percentage of overall budget: 96%
• Grammarly spent £22m, 24% less than in the previous quarter but a substantial increase on the £167k it invested in Q2 2022. Digital as a percentage of overall budget: 100%
• Reach dedicated £19m to digital, increasing its Q1 budget by 39% and doubling its Q2 2022 investment. InYourArea.co.uk received £6.9m of this budget, Reach Regional Newspapers £2.5m, OK! Weekly £2.1m, and Daily Mirror £1.6m. Digital as a percentage of overall budget: 99.6%
• The Overseas Guides Company allocated £17m to the channel, up 82% on the previous quarter and 174% on the same time last year. Digital as a percentage of overall budget: 100%

Click here to view the full list of the top 100 spending companies in digital

Top five highest spending brands in digital

• Amazon Corporate - £43m
• TikTok App - £22m
• Property Guides - £17m
• GrammarlyGO - £15m
• KAYAK.com - £9.7m

Biggest year-on-year increases

• Harrods increased its £200 digital budget of Q2 2022 to £2.2m in Q2 this year. Digital as a % of overall budget: 99.6%
• Aer Lingus spent £1.9m compared to £680 the year before. Digital as a % of overall budget: 85%
• National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children spent £5.6m on digital ads for its Childhood Day campaign, up from £9k in Q2 2022. Digital as a % of overall budget: 92%

Selected companies that spent on digital in Q2 2023 but invested £0 in the channel in Q2 2022

• OddBalls Apparel spent £5.2m. Digital as a % of overall budget: 100%
• Acorn Mobility Services invested £4.2m. Digital as a % of overall budget: 94%
• Direct Cremations Ireland spent £2.2m. Digital as a % of overall budget: 100%

Outdoor Spend

In Q2, ALF advertisers spent £423m on outdoor campaigns, a healthy increase of 28% from £330m in Q1, and 13% from £376m in Q2 2022. The medium accounted for 14% of all spend, compared with 11% in the aforementioned previous quarters.

Top five spenders

• Unilever spent £20.4m on outdoor, 258% more than in Q1 and 241% more than in Q2 2022. In Q2, Magnum launched a summer campaign in celebration of new summer flavours Magnum Double Sunlover and Magnum Double Starchaser. There was also a new above-the-line campaign for its Cif brand. Outdoor as a % of overall budget: 25%
• McDonald’s invested £20.3m, down 6% on the previous quarter, but on a par with the same period last year. The fast food giant celebrated 40 years of McNuggets with a new campaign asking who is #McNuggetworthy, which had an out of home element. Outdoor as a % of overall budget: 53%
• Beverage Services paid out £16.7m, an increase of 114% on Q1, and 34% year on year. Coca-Cola recruited model Gigi Hadid to front the global brand campaign and platform ‘A Recipe for Magic’ in April and May to celebrate the sharing of food and drink around the table. Outdoor as a % of overall budget: 73%
• Walt Disney had an outdoor budget of £8.6m, up from less than £1,000 in Q2 2022, and 195% higher than in Q1 2023. There have been prominent campaigns to promote The Little Mermaid and the Disney+ streaming service. Outdoor as a % of overall budget: 33%
• Sainsbury’s allocated £7.4m, 136% more than in Q1 and 103% more than at the same time last year. Outdoor as a % of overall budget: 37%

Click here to view the top 100 spending companies in outdoor

Top five highest spending brands

• McDonald’s - £15.8m
• Ovo Energy - £7.4m
• Netflix - £7.1m
• Universal Pictures - £5.2m
• Disney+ - £5.0m

Biggest year-on-year increases

• Ovo Energy spent £7.4m on outdoor advertising in Q2, compared to just £480 in the same period a year earlier. In April, the brand appointed Saatchi & Saatchi as its creative agency, as it prepared to launch a campaign over the summer to help customers decarbonise their homes. Outdoor as a % of overall budget: 92%
• Walt Disney (see above)
• Walkers Snacks shelled out £1.1m, up from less than £300 in Q2 2022. The advertising supported initiatives such as the launch of a new BBQ Sauce variety of Quavers and a sequel to the #CrispIn OR #CrispOUT campaign to see if the nation is tempted to try a whole new range of snacks in their sandwiches. Outdoor as a % of overall budget: 21%

Selected companies that spent in Q2 2023 having not spent in Q2 2022

• Muller UK & Ireland Group invested £5.8m in outdoor. The brand had launched a new marketing campaign for its Mullerlight brand at the start of the year, including out-of-home advertising. Outdoor as a % of overall budget: 66%
• Lloyds Bank spent £4m including through a campaign launched in June amplifying good news stories from British business customers. Outdoor as a % of overall budget: 44%
• Jacobs Douwe Egberts paid out £2.7m, in part to support the £11m centenary campaign for Kenco in 2023. Outdoor as a % of overall budget: 64%

Radio Spend

In Q2, advertisers in ALF committed £212m to radio campaigns. This represented a fall of 2% from £216m in Q1, but an increase of 3% from £206m in Q2 2022. Radio continues to account for around 7% of all spend.

Top five spenders

• Sky spent £6m on radio advertising in Q2, an increase of 61% on Q1 but down 11% year on year. The most promoted brands were Sky Stream (£1.9m), Sky Broadband (£1.3m), Sky Corporate (£757k), Sky Mobile (£549k) and Sky Glass (£543k). Radio as a % of overall budget: 12%
• Camelot shelled out £5.3m, up 5.5% on the previous quarter and 41% on Q2 2022. The figure included £2.9m on Lotto, £1.3m on Euromillions and £793k on Instants. Radio as a % of overall budget: 22%
• McDonald’s invested £4.4m, 44% more than in Q1 but 9% less year on year. Radio as a % of overall budget: 12%
• Walt Disney had a radio budget of £3.9m, which was 45% higher than Q1 and up 2% on Q2 last year. Campaigns for Disney+ made up almost half of this total (£1.9m) with other significant outlays on Walt Disney Destinations International (£865k) and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (£817k). Radio as a % of overall budget: 15%
• Vodafone spent £3.5m, representing growth of 324% on the previous quarter and 148% year on year. The most significant campaigns were for Vodafone Mobile Services (£2.3m), Vodafone Fibre Broadband (£562k) and Vodafone At Home (£448k). Radio as a % of overall budget: 16%

Click here to view the top 100 spending companies in radio

Top five highest spending brands

• Jet2.com - £3.2m
• Webuyanycar.com - £3.1m
• Lotto - £2.9m
• Vodafone Mobile Services - £2.3m
• Creditfix Debt Solutions - £2.2m

Biggest year-on-year increases

• GSK spent £769k on radio having paid out only £338 in Q2 2022. Radio as a % of overall budget: 25%
• The National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society invested £799k, up from just 11k in the same quarter a year earlier. Radio as a % of overall budget: 20%
• Telefonica had a radio ad budget of £1.7m, a significant upturn on £71k, for its O2 and giffgaff products and services. Radio as a % of overall budget: 8%

Selected companies that spent in Q2 2023 having not spent in Q2 2022

• Creditfix spent £2.2m on radio campaigns for its debt solutions services. Radio as a % of overall budget: 97%
• ProgressPlay committed £1.4m to advertise online sports betting platform and casino Bet Screamer. Radio as a % of overall budget: 100%
• NDH Financial allocated £1.4m for radio advertising for its debt services. Radio as a % of overall budget: 100%

Press Spend

In Q2, ALF advertisers spent £157m on press campaigns, 0.9% more than in Q1 but 18% less than in Q2 2022. Press accounted for 5.2% of all media spend in Q2, up from 5% in Q1 but down from 5.7% in Q2 2022.

Top five spenders in Q2

• Imagine Group spent £4.9m on press advertising in Q2, down 1.8% on Q1 and 24% less than in Q2 2022. Almost all the budget was allocated to Imagine Cruising (£4.7m), with just £170k spent on Imagine Rail Holidays. Press as a % of overall budget: 95%.
• Tesco allocated £4.1m, a 38% increase on the previous quarter but down 37% year on year. The top three brands receiving the most investment were its food products (£2.5m), its Finest range (£508k) and its drink range (£268k). Press as a % of overall budget: 14%.
• 888 Holdings invested £3.4m in the channel, up 20% on Q1 and 7% on Q2 2022. The budget was spent on press campaigns for William Hill bookmakers (£2.6m), corporate advertising for William Hill (£673k) and its William Hill podcast (£193k). Press as a % of overall budget: 25%.
• Reader Offers had a press budget of £3m, an increase of 9.8% on the previous quarter and 25% year on year. Press as a % of overall budget: 84%.
• Sainsbury's also spent £3m on press campaigns, down 4.6% on Q1 and 46% less than it allocated in Q2 2022. The lions share of its budget was split between its food and drink range (£2m), clothing (£467k), Taste the Difference products (£198k) and By Sainsbury’s products (£166k).

Click here to view the full list of the top 100 spending companies in press

Top five highest spending brands in press

• Imagine Cruising - £4.7m
• ROL Cruise – Cruises - £3.0m
• William Hill Bookmakers - £2.6m
• Tesco Food Products - £2.5m
• Sainsbury's Food & Drink Range - £2m

Biggest year-on-year increases

• Postcode Lottery allocated £369k to press advertising in Q2, compared to just £4.5k in Q2 2022. Press as a % of overall budget: 3.2%.
• Tesco Mobile spent £876k after investing £12k the previous year. The mobile network operator launched a campaign in April to position itself as the most helpful network in the UK. The campaign by Bartle Bogle Hegarty featured print and out-of-home iterations which positioned Tesco Mobile as 'the network that gives a sausage'. Press as a % of overall budget: 6.7%.
• Vintage Trading Solutions had a press budget of £638k to promote Vintage Cash Cow, up from £28k in Q2 2022. Press as a % of overall budget: 38%.

Selected companies that spent on press in Q2 2023 but invested £0 in the channel in Q2 2022

• British Gas spent £774k on press in Q2. The budget was split between corporate advertising (£591k), home heating (£165k) and Scottish Gas (£18k). Press as a % of overall budget: 8.4%.
• Adjustamatic Beds invested £357k. Press as a % of overall budget: 98%.
• Fastcashproperty had a press budget of £348k in Q2. Press as a % of overall budget: 70%.

By Simon Ward, Hannah Jarrett & Natalie Fedden

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