UK addressable TV spend surges 15.5% as market nears £50bn

The stagnation of traditional linear spend alongside the double-digit rise in addressable TV indicates that UK buyers are aggressively reallocating budgets toward digital video flexibility. For the streaming ecosystem, this shift validates the heavy investment in ad-supported tiers and sophisticated identity-resolution stacks required to service 'data-led' demand. The transition is being accelerated by the AA/WARC’s revised methodology, which now treats retail media and social video as primary channels, forcing legacy broadcasters to compete more directly with performance-based platforms for the same budget pools. Watch for second-half addressable TV growth to exceed Q1 levels as major sporting events provide high-reach inventory for targeted campaigns.

The trend toward addressable dominance in the UK is supported by recent advertiser sentiment data. Per The Media Leader in January 2026, video-on-demand (VOD) spend was initially projected to grow 14.1% for the full year, a figure that appears conservative given the Q1 15.5% addressable surge. This growth is largely fueled by significant 'live' cultural tentpoles; for instance, AA/WARC previously noted that the FIFA Club World Cup and summer sporting events are primary catalysts for shifting budgets into VOD and digital radio formats, which saw 19.2% growth in late 2025. Furthermore, external research from ISBA’s Media Budgets Survey in November 2025 revealed that 83% of British advertisers planned to increase their investment in addressable and connected TV throughout 2026, while 60% intended to reduce linear commitments. Simultaneously, the UK market is grappling with the maturation of its retail media infrastructure. According to IAB UK in March 2026, digital retail media spend is now projected to reach £7.88 billion by late 2026, a sixfold increase since 2019. This creates a more fragmented competitive landscape where streaming platforms must compete not just with each other, but with 'commerce media' networks that offer first-party data at the point of sale. To maintain their share, broadcasters like ITV and Channel 4 have been enhancing their programmatic capabilities to match the attribution levels found in these emerging digital-first channels, per VideoWeek in April 2026.