eMarketer has released its report and predictions on digital ad spending across different verticals. Its forecast is that UK digital spending by the five largest-spending industries — automotive, consumer packaged goods (CPG), financial services, retail, and travel — will grow nearly 10% in 2019.

eMarketer expects much of the growth in UK ad spending in digital channels through 2019 to come from mobile, up 20.3% in 2018 followed by a 15.5% increase in 2019. This follows the trends we have been seeing, where advertising spend follows time spent in channel and device. This is why mobile has been such a driving force in spend growth.

UK marketers, overall, are expected to spend more than double the amount in digital channels in 2018 than television or any other traditional media, according to data from the Advertising Association-UK and Warc.

Brands should take note of the split in investment in video in particular. We have seen mobile video being a driver in spend from the IAB ad spend. Further, smartphone video is the fastest growing format, according to eMarketer in 2018, and the split is expected to be 91% mobile versus 9% on desktop/laptop. This is a huge shift, which shows the importance of creative formats and requiring brands to think about the media platform first (for example, fit for feed rather than the traditional 30” TV copy).

Google is also launching vertical video ads, so creative that works in both portrait and landscape will be key. The creative should be built to optimal media delivery, which will be mobile-first. Brands need to ensure they are matching creative briefings to the audience behaviour.

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