Investment in TV advertising totalled £5.27 billion in 2024, up 3.8% year on year, according to new research from TV broadcasters.
It detailed that the £5.27 billion figure was broken down into two categories: total broadcaster – which recorded an investment figure of £5.04 billion, up from £4.98 billion in 2023 – and total subscription video on demand/advertising-based video on demand/ free ad-supported streaming TV, which totalled £235 million.
The revenue for the newly established commercial TV services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney + was calculated by Spark Ninety on behalf of Thinkbox.
Further data comes from the 2024 study Profit Ability 2, which showed TV was responsible for 54.7% of advertising-generated profit. The report also highlighted that online video accounted for 3.4% of full advertising-generated profit.
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Lindsey Clay, Thinkbox CEO, said: “Commercial TV is transforming and growing, with more opportunities than ever for businesses to advertise in its high-quality, high-attention, highly effective environments. This growth is being fuelled by innovation across the TV companies, offering data-driven solutions together with culture-shaping content and a creative canvas that is unmatched anywhere in media.”
“2024 was a tough year for businesses, and 2025 is looking even more uncertain. Brands need safe havens at a time like this, places they can rely on to deliver, defend their price premiums and help them be as resilient as possible. TV is proven to be the safest place a brand can be,” she added.
Figures from Nielsen Ad Intel showcased that the household fast-moving consumer goods brands category had the biggest increase in TV advertising investment in 2024. Other categories that reported increases were retail and business and industrial.
The data also showed that 932 businesses invested in broadcaster TV advertising for the first time or returned after over five years away.
New advertisers included Avios, Alibaba and Allianz Insurance.
