Weathering pandemic storm: UK ad exports hit £11.7bn despite global disruption
New data has revealed that international trade in UK advertising and market research services was worth £11.7bn in 2020, sustaining the same level as the pre-pandemic conditions of 2019.
Despite the challenges of a global lockdown faced by exporters in the UK ad industry, balance of payments remained steady, bringing the UK a healthy £5bn trade surplus, according to the Advertising Association’s new UK Advertising Exports Report 2022 .
The US remains the largest recipient of UK exports, receiving £1.2bn worth of advertising and market research services, followed by Spain (£895m), then Germany (£877m).
UK advertising’s outreach to the global stage was bolstered by the promotional work of the UK Advertising Export Group (UKAEG) in partnership with the Department for International Trade (DIT).
Through UK House it has created more than half a million contact opportunities with potential customers from 40 countries since the first lockdown, and in 2021 generated £21m worth of new business for members.
Once again, the UK is second in the world for advertising services exports with the US leading at nearly $22bn – with a significant gap between its nearest place competitor – Germany coming in third at $11.8bn, according to OECD data.
Mike Freer MP, Minister for Exports, commented: “The advertising industry deserves recognition for its effort and hard work to maintain £11.7bn export revenue in 2020, a tremendous performance during such a challenging period.”
He added, “The advertising industry has been highly engaged with the DIT teams based globally through its UK House programme as well as in developing UKAEG’s own search and selection tool for international clients. These are a great platform to promote advertising’s ability to drive export sales and DIT will continue to provide sector and market specific support to innovative companies to help them grow internationally.”