We examine the findings of the latest IPA Bellwether Report, calling on a range of industry experts for their insights.

UK marketing budgets have risen for a second consecutive quarter, remaining in positive territory for Q3 2025. Just over 22% of panellists reported an increase in their market expenditure while 18.7% noted a reduction, producing an overall net balance of +3.6% (down from +5.5% last quarter). 

Growth was subdued compared to Q2, with economic uncertainties looming ahead of the Autumn Budget next month. For those who reduced their budgets, reasons cited included market and economic uncertainty, cost and margin pressures, and cashflow preservation efforts. The report notes that companies noticed hesitancy among clients to spend and commit to new projects. 

As usual, events was the main driver of growth, followed closely by direct marketing (rising +10.9% and +9.7%, respectively). 

Main media budgets remained unchanged, staying put at 0% overall. Among main media categories, video and other online categories saw growth, unsurprisingly. Published brands, audio, and OOH budgets all saw a decrease, plummeting considerably lower than the previous quarter. 

More surprisingly, sales promotions budgets saw their first reduction within two years, dropping to -0.9% from +9.4% in Q2. 

Looking to the end of the year, IPA’s ad spend forecast for 2025 remains fixed at 0.6%. Although the predicted long-term growth trend rate is around 2%, current economic and political uncertainty has led the 2026 forecast to be revised down from 1.6% to 1.2%. 

Striking a balance between immediate ROI and long-term brand building

Financial caution remained the defining theme of Q3; however, optimism is building and looks set to carry into early 2026. Clients are continuously measured in their spending, with budgets directed at activity that delivers immediate, measurable impact – from lead generation and ABM to tightly targeted campaigns designed to drive tangible results. 

At the same time, buyer behaviour is changing rapidly. AI tools are reshaping how research happens, and traditional search is no longer the default route to discovery. This is pushing brands to reallocate spend, moving away from traditional brand-building initiatives towards channels that can demonstrate quick value. 

This creates a significant opportunity for brands willing to be bold to ‘force the search’, by proactively placing their message in front of key audiences through ABM, LinkedIn, Meta, earned media and programmatic advertising, rather than waiting to be found.  

Today’s environment requires brand marketers to strike a delicate balance: delivering immediate ROI while sustaining visibility, credibility, and trust through long-term brand building. Those prepared to navigate both will be the best positioned to capture market share from more cautious competitors.

Rachel Lofthouse, Managing Director UK & Europe, Fox Agency 

The report raises legitimate concerns around AI

The latest IPA Bellwether results once again demonstrate the resilience of online advertising amid global and geopolitical uncertainty. Within this broader digital growth, programmatic media continues to accelerate, driven by ongoing advances in automation and AI that deliver greater efficiency, higher media quality and faster outcomes. Increasingly, sell-side curation is being adopted to make the programmatic bidstream work more effectively for brands, buyers and demand platforms.

The report also raises legitimate concerns around AI potentially replacing critical human skills and experience. We share this view: humans must remain central in managing and guiding the application of AI and emerging technologies to ensure they serve innovation responsibly.

Emma Lacey, SVP, Sales Demand EMEA, Onetag

Reliable and trustworthy methods of targeting and measurement are becoming increasingly important

Increasing investment in video while wider budgets remain stagnant highlights its fast-growing power as an impactful and measurable channel. However, as advertiser investments in video and CTV continue to grow, the need for more reliable and trustworthy methods of targeting and measurement is becoming increasingly important, especially at scale. 

For marketers to secure the audience engagement they are striving for through CTV,  the industry needs to tackle some key challenges around the data that underpins the viewer identity. Fragmented audience insights and the fluid nature of device IPs make forming a clear picture of who’s watching across different devices and platforms in the same household a challenge. Solving this puzzle is the crucial next step towards unlocking the true value of video advertising for all.

Vinod Kashyap, Chief Product Officer, Digital Envoy

Brands are prioritising face-to-face connection and engagement

It’s great to see that budgets for events are up. Our industry thrives on face-to-face interactions and this is a clear signal that brands are prioritising face-to-face connection and deeper engagement opportunities.

The growth in video is noteworthy too, and the industry must now ensure its technology is keeping pace here. There’s a need for genuine AV recognition in brand safety products, rather than solutions that lean too heavily on metadata and keywords. 

The return of company-level confidence is also encouraging, and survival instincts should be trusted here. Companies that are making strong headway are those diversifying revenue and understanding where AI helps versus where it threatens, then acting on it.

Fiona Salmon, Managing Director, Mantis

Channels don’t work in isolation

It’s encouraging to see marketing budgets continue to grow, and for the first time in over a year, companies are slightly more optimistic about their own prospects. While economic uncertainty remains and eyes will be on the Autumn Budget, there are positive signs on the horizon. 

Advertisers are doing the right thing by keeping their spend strong and ensuring their brands stay front and centre. Respondents highlighted AI as a key productivity tool, helping reduce costs while giving marketers the control and confidence to invest in online channels.

Video continues to attract spend, but channels don’t work in isolation. Consumers see brands everywhere, on their screens at home, on mobile, and on billboards. Top-of-funnel channels like DOOH and audio, once seen as purely branding plays, can now be integrated into the full media mix. Brands that get this complex mix right, and use AI-based identity technology that keeps campaigns flexible and relevant, will drive stronger engagement and game-changing results.

 Phil Acton, Country Manager UK, Adform

The coming months will be shaped by the democratisation of AI

The democratisation of AI will be a defining force in shaping the industry over the coming months, offering immense potential to maximise the value of expanded budgets for a second quarter. Publishers can harness these technologies to evolve into more strategic partners for advertisers, delivering enhanced transparency and highly targeted advertising solutions.

For advertisers, this shift removed the need to rely exclusively on walled gardens to unlock AI-driven efficiencies, enabling greater visibility into campaign performance, more accurate audience segmentation and the power to make data-led, real time decisions.

The competitive edge will belong to the advertisers and publishers who move first. By collaborating with the right technology partners, organisations across the advertising ecosystem can achieve far more than incremental efficiency gains, they can generate meaningful, measurable business growth. Now is the moment for businesses to advance their AI strategies and realise their full potential.

Emma Newman, CRO EMEA, PubMatic

Marketers are not succumbing to the political and economic doom

The Bellwether report this week is a real reflection of resilience in the face of adversity and marketing intelligence at play.

Marketers are not succumbing to the political and economic doom. Instead they are increasing their marketing spend for the second quarter running with true correlated growth stats to show for it. But also, the nature of that increased spend is very telling.

Events and direct marketing are the huge spikes this quarter, showing that marketers are massively prioritising the real and personal connections that consumers crave in this unstable environment. And that’s doubly smart. Because brands investing in precision now are then setting themselves up for deeper relationships and guaranteed growth in the year to come.

Gabby Ludzker, CEO, RAPP

Marketers want more controlled ecosystems

The latest IPA Bellwether Report highlights brand building as a driver of growth, with events and direct marketing leading the way with investment. In the digital space, we’re seeing increasing attention on brandformance solutions that bridge the gap between upper and lower-funnel marketing, to optimise both brand awareness and performance outcomes.

Marketers are seeking more controlled ecosystems, where they can better measure brand impact and optimise in real time, particularly as generative AI continues to disrupt traditional open-web environments. Our recent MediaLink research found 45% of marketers are already shifting spend towards mobile in-app, and we’re expecting more investment towards these spaces with 2026 budget planning underway.

Stephen Upstone, CEO & Founder, LoopMe

Brands are evolving their measurement maturity

It is encouraging to see the continued momentum behind video and online channels as brands place value in engagement and story-telling. But it is perhaps unsurprising given YouTube has become the most-watched platform and Google has stated that 60–70% of purchase paths include Google and YouTube – video discovery plays a critical role here. This is driven in part by the way AI is reshaping brand search and discoverability. 

Added to this, more brands are evolving their measurement maturity so they can understand the importance of video earlier in the consideration / brand awareness journey. However as we hit Q4 and plan for 2026, brands must be mindful that performance activation will continue to be a race to the bottom if not balanced with brand-building efforts.

And let’s also not forget that peak season is almost upon us. For D2C brands, we expect Q4 promotions to drive a significant share of budgets. However, it will be those brands who have been priming audiences in Q3 who will be able to capitalise on their investment.

Finally, it is incredibly disappointing, and disheartening, to see market research in decline. After all, understanding audiences and human led motivations is critical for media experimentation for campaign creativity and media strategy and planning, across all media channels. Relevancy, resonance and authenticity are values that our industry hangs it hat on, without research they cannot be achieved and activations run the risk of being trapped by marketing assumptions.

Jaye Cowle, CEO, Launch

A broader momentum is building across the industry

The optimism shown in the latest IPA Bellwether Report is reflective of a broader momentum building across the industry. As marketing budgets continue to grow, there's a renewed focus on smarter, more efficient ways of working. AI is at the heart of this shift and is helping to simplify digital advertising, automating workflows, and integrating intelligent models that enhance campaign performance and ROI. Ultimately, marketers utilising AI can make media work better for consumers, clients, and employees.

Joseph Worswick, Buyer Development EMEA/APAC, OpenX