Economics
Brexit Risks Cut U.K. Advertising Growth to Slowest Since 2015
- Almost as many companies cutting ad spending as increasing it
- Industry body says businesses are more downbeat on prospects
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Growth in U.K. advertising budgets has slowed to its weakest in 2 1/2 years as Britain struggles to define its future relationship with the European Union.
The proportion of companies increasing their ad spending exceeded those scaling it back by 2.5 percentage points in the third quarter of 2018, down from a 6.5 point margin in the second quarter, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising said Wednesday in its Bellwether Report. Marketing budgets have expanded continuously for six years, but that’s the smallest gap since the fourth quarter of 2015.