UK TV’s tale of two markets: linear stalls as addressable jumps 15.5%
Updated: Sep 1
In short: UK advertisers spent £11.7bn in Q1 2026, up 9.3% year on year, but the 0.8% ‘TV’ number is misleading — linear is flat to falling while addressable TV grew 15.5%, and total spend is on track for £50.5bn this year.
The headline numbers
The new Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report, published on 30 July 2026, puts total UK ad spend at £11.7bn in the first quarter — a 9.3% rise on the same period last year. It also nudges the full-year forecast to £50.5bn (up 8.2%), with 2027 pencilled in at £53.5bn (up 5.9%). On the surface, resilient growth.
But the mix is where the story sits. Retail media (+17.9%), social (+17.7%) and out-of-home (+15%) powered the quarter, while cinema (-17.6%) and published media (-5.9%) fell. Television grew just 0.8% — a number that, taken alone, tells you almost nothing useful.
Why the ‘flat TV’ number is misleading
Dig underneath and TV is really two markets moving in opposite directions. Addressable TV — the targeted, data-led inventory sold across BVOD and connected TV — grew 15.5% in the quarter. Linear spot advertising kept declining, dragging the blended figure back to near-flat. The medium is not stagnating; it is migrating.
For the full year, AA/WARC still expects TV to grow 3.7% in 2026 and 3% in 2027. That recovery is almost entirely a story of streaming and addressable inventory offsetting linear’s slow fade — the same shift that made Netflix, ITVX and the new Comcast-powered SME marketplaces such a focus this summer.
Marketing Minute’s read
Treat ‘TV’ as a single line in your media plan and you will draw the wrong conclusion. The channel is not getting weaker; it is getting more like digital — biddable, measurable and increasingly bought on outcomes. The brands winning here are moving budget from age-and-gender linear buys into addressable formats that can be targeted and attributed.
A simple test for your 2026 plan: for every pound you still spend on linear TV, can you say who saw it and what it drove? If not, the AA/WARC data is a nudge to route new TV money toward addressable and BVOD, where the growth — and the accountability — now lives.
What UK businesses should do
Smaller advertisers finally have a way in. Self-serve TV marketplaces from ITV, Channel 4 and Sky have lowered the entry point to premium video, so ‘TV is only for big brands’ is no longer true. Start with a modest addressable test, hold linear flat, and shift spend based on measured outcomes rather than the blunt blended growth rate.
Quick FAQ
How much did UK ad spend grow in Q1 2026?
According to the AA/WARC Expenditure Report, total UK advertising spend reached £11.7bn in the first quarter of 2026, up 9.3% year on year, with the full year forecast at £50.5bn.
Is TV advertising declining in the UK?
Not exactly. Total TV spend grew just 0.8% in Q1 2026, but that hides a split: linear spot advertising is falling while addressable TV grew 15.5%. TV is forecast to grow 3.7% across 2026 as streaming offsets linear.
What is addressable TV?
Addressable TV is targeted, data-led television advertising delivered through connected TV and broadcaster video-on-demand, letting advertisers reach specific audiences and measure results more like digital media.
— Dimitro Cohen, Technology & Ad-Tech Correspondent at Marketing Minute
The takeaway: don’t read ‘TV grew 0.8%’ as weakness — read it as a 15.5% addressable market hiding inside a fading linear one, and move your budget accordingly.
Are you still buying linear TV on reach, or have you shifted to addressable formats you can actually measure?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Written by Dimitro Cohen, Technology & Ad-Tech Correspondent at Marketing Minute
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