P&G replaces Government as UK's biggest advertising spender

By Gemma Charles, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Tuesday, 04 January 2011 12:36PM

Procter & Gamble is now the UK's biggest spender on advertising, following a 47% fall in COI spend.

The COI spent £112m on advertising in 2010, down from £221m in 2009, when it was the UK's biggest advertiser.

Since coming to power in May, the coalition Government has imposed a spending freeze to ensure that only "essential" advertising is run.

As a result, the COI is now the fifth-biggest spender, according to estimates* from Nielsen.

In comparison, Procter & Gamble increased adspend by 33% from £142m in 2009, to £189m in 2010.

BSkyB was the second, spending £161m, up from £134m in 2009.

Unilever was third with a spend of £132m, having increased its spend by just 2%, substantially less than its FMCG rival, P&G.  

Tesco, the biggest supermarket in the UK, was fourth, spending £120m, an increase of 19%.

BT made the biggest increase to its outlay of any top 10 advertiser, lifting its spend by 44% to £104m.

 

UK adspend
Advertiser	UK expenditure	UK expenditure	Year-on-year
	2010 (£m)	2009 (£m)	% change
Procter & Gamble	189	142	33
BSkyB	161	134	20
Unilever	132	129	2
Tesco	120	101	19
COI	112	221	-47
Asda	107	95	13
BT	104	72	44
DFS Furniture	92	93	-2
Reckitt Benckiser	75	77	-3
Kellogg's	70	76	-9

*The figures cover the year to 15 December and do not include: internet advertising for the period 1 October to 15 December; outdoor, cinema, direct mail and door drop advertising for the period 1 November to 15 December; regional press and magazine advertising for the period 1 to 15 December; or TV and radio advertising for the period 6 to 15 December.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk