In today’s Digest, we cover UK ad spend rising 9.3% in Q1 2026 to reach £11.7bn, Unilever raising its full-year guidance after its strongest sales volume growth in 16 years, and Netflix overtaking the BBC as UK viewers’ first choice, according to Ofcom. 

UK ad spend jumps 9.3% in Q1 2026

UK advertising investment rose 9.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, reaching £11.7bn, according to the latest quarterly Expenditure Report published by the Advertising Association and WARC. The figures, drawn from a survey of media owners and their representative industry bodies, point to broad-based growth across both established and emerging formats, with digital channels leading the way. Online radio grew 22.1% and digital out of home rose 17.6%, while double-digit gains were also recorded in retail media (17.9%), out of home (15.0%), social media (17.7%), and addressable TV (15.5%). Search remained the largest single category by investment, pulling in £4.6 billion during the quarter on growth of 9.8%.

Looking ahead, AA/WARC forecasts UK ad investment will grow 8.2% across 2026 to reach £50.5bn, with momentum expected to carry into 2027 with a further 5.9% increase, bringing total spend to £53.5bn. Advertising Association chief executive Stephen Woodford said the first quarter's performance reflects the industry's continued resilience and rapid evolution, noting that advertisers of all sizes are finding value across the full advertising ecosystem as they lean on marketing services to innovate, compete, and grow. 

Unilever raises full-year guidance 

Unilever has upgraded its full-year outlook following its strongest quarter of sales volume growth in 16 years. Underlying sales climbed 5.8% in the second quarter, generating turnover of €13bn (£11.18bn), powered by volume growth of 5.5%, the biggest jump since 2010, on the back of strong demand across Latin America and India, the company's key emerging markets. In India, sales rose 10% during the quarter as Unilever's home-care and haircare brands gained market share, while Brazil and Argentina both posted double-digit sales growth, aided in part by a World Cup promotional push for the company's Rexona deodorant brand.

Unilever now expects full-year sales growth to land "within" its previously guided range of 4% to 6%, an upgrade from earlier guidance that had pointed to growth at the "lower end" of that range, while full-year volume growth expectations have also been raised to 3%, up from a prior forecast of 2%. Investors responded favourably to the news, sending Unilever's shares up 6.5% in early London trading.

Netflix overtakes BBC as UK viewers' first choice

UK audiences are now more likely to reach for Netflix than the BBC when choosing what to watch, according to Ofcom's annual Media Nations report. The regulator found that 26% of people name Netflix as their first choice, narrowly ahead of the BBC at 25%, with ITV trailing further behind at 15%. Ofcom said the findings reflect the mounting pressures facing traditional broadcasters, squeezed both by competition for viewers' attention from global streaming platforms and by ongoing revenue strain.

Still, the picture isn't entirely bleak for Britain's broadcasters. Viewing of broadcaster-owned on-demand services, including BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4 Streaming and 5 streaming, rose 9% year-on-year, making them the fastest-growing category of television service. Public service broadcasters remain the dominant source of UK-made programming despite this erosion.