Media release: Cuts to UK marketing budgets ease in Q1 2021, reveals IPA Bellwether Report
THE latest IPA Bellwether Report, published today (15 April 2021), has pointed to a further decline in UK marketing budgets in the opening quarter of 2021, as Coronavirus lockdown restrictions continued to hinder economic activity and businesses looked to reduce costs.
However, the downward trend softened for the third quarter in a row, in a sign that business conditions were beginning to stabilise after a year of turmoil in 2020.
A net balance of -11.5 per cent of panellists reported a contraction in total marketing budgets during the first quarter of 2021. Although the rate of decline remained historically marked, it eased substantially from the final quarter of 2020 (net balance of -24.0 per cent). Overall, just over a quarter (25.7 per cent) of surveyed businesses saw a decrease in available adspend in the latest survey period, while 14.2 per cent recorded an increase.