Study: UK digital adspend up 13% in H1 2026
September 30, 2026



The UK digital advertising market reached £21.2 billion (€24.7bn) in the first six months of 2026, up 13 per cent year on year, according to IAB UK’s Digital Adspend Study HY 2026, produced with mediasense. Advertisers invested almost £5 billion more in digital advertising in H1 2026 than they did across the entirety of 2020.

Online retail media and video were the strongest growth engines. Online retail media grew faster than any other category, rising 32 per cent to £2 billion, while video increased 18 per cent to £5.1 billion.


Search remained the largest category, increasing 10 per cent to £9.1 billion and accounting for 43 per cent of total digital ad spend. Display grew 9 per cent to £3.1 billion, while other formats collectively accounted for £3.9 billion.

The £3.9 billion invested across other formats included £2 billion in online retail media, £0.7 billion in gaming, £0.5 billion in digital out-of-home, £0.5 billion in classified advertising and £0.2 billion in audio.

Other key takeaways include:

Mobile remained dominant at £15.1 billion, representing 71 per cent of spend, while non-mobile accounted for £6 billion, or 29 per cent. The device split was unchanged from HY 2025.
Programmatic trading accounted for £17.2 billion, or 81 per cent of the market, up three percentage points from 78 per cent in HY 2025.
Platforms generated £15.2 billion, equal to 72 per cent of total digital ad spend, and grew 19 per cent year on year.
TV+ grew 22 per cent to £1.7 billion and represented one third of total video spend. Gaming increased 10 per cent to £0.7 billion, audio rose 9 per cent to £0.2 billion and classified advertising grew 4 per cent to £0.5 billion. Publishing revenues grew 4 per cent to £380 million.

The study also highlights the pressures shaping advertiser decisions. Economic uncertainty was cited as a top-three challenge by 70 per cent of survey respondents, ahead of AI and automation at 37 per cent and measurement at 30 per cent. Advertisers are placing greater scrutiny on accountability, incrementality and measurable business outcomes, while AI is reshaping search, campaign planning, creative development and publisher traffic.

Looking ahead, mediasense estimates that UK digital advertising spend will grow by 12 per cent across 2026 to £45.2 billion, before rising a further 10.7 per cent to £50 billion in 2027. Platforms, online retail media and TV+ are expected to remain well placed to capture growth, although the forecast is directional and may not reflect external shocks, regulatory changes or platform-specific disruption.