Bellwether report: advertisers' confidence rises

Business confidence among UK marketing executives surged in in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest Bellwether survey. The influential quarterly survey, produced by Markit Economics for the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, found that 26% of marketing executives surveyed in the first quarter this year believe the financial prospects for the UK advertising industry are set to improve. In the previous quarter just 10% agreed . In addition the percentage of marketers who believed the ad industry is headed for worse times fell dramatically from 55% in the final three months of 2011 to just 25% in early 2012. Chris Williamson, the author of the report at Markit, said the boost in optimism among marketers made for the biggest overall swing in confidence since the Bellwether report started gauging views on the ad industry in early 2005. Marketers were also more upbeat about the prospects of their own companies, with 38% feeling positive in the three months to the end of March, compared with just 25% in the previous Bellwether report. The proportion who hold a negative view fell from 37% to 18% for the respective periods. "The brighter outlook has yet to be fully reflected in plans for marketing spend," said Williamson. The report shows that UK marketing executives did raise their annual budgets in the first three months of 2012 – for the third consecutive quarter – but by a slim margin. While 22% of companies in the survey reported a budget increase, 21% reported a downward revision. Despite upcoming events such as the London Olympics and Euro 2012 football championships, the report found that companies cut their marketing spend on "main media" – which includes traditional channels such as TV, radio and press – while internet advertising received the biggest boost. The Internet Advertising Bureau recently reported double-digit growth in UK internet ad spend in 2011, and a forecast that it will easily surpass £5bn this year . While companies intend to increase their budgets year on year in 2012, it will be very cautiously with the smallest increase the report has recorded in three years. "This perhaps reflects a more pragmatic approach to budget setting, given that the initial increases in budgets were steadily revised away in the past two years [of the report] as weaker than expected sales caused firms to cut marketing costs," said Williamson. "However, with the coming year seeing events such as the London Olympics, Diamond Jubilee and the Euro 2012, it is likely that the year will again see an increase in marketing." • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter at and Facebook