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The final secondary legislation specifies the precise products in scope of the less healthy food and drink ad ban (often referred to as the HFSS ad ban), which comes into force on 1 October 2025. The ban applies to all online ads for ‘less healthy’ products - as specified in the law - as well as TV ads before 9pm. The final legislation also confirms the details of the exemptions from the ban, which apply to SMEs and for audio-only media/ads on the internet. Alongside the regulations, the...

The Online Advertising Taskforce was created by the previous Government to explore how industry-led initiatives can help to address illegal advertising and improve protections for children from age-restricted ads online. Its focus is on improving the evidence base around harmful ads and enhancing industry-led initiatives to address them, as set out in the action plan published in November 2023. IAB UK sits on the Taskforce and leads the area of the action plan that is working to increase...

Move over Avengers, there’s a new hero in town – and she’s armed with cake recipes, knitting tips and an endless supply of “dears.” Yes Daisy, the AI granny created by O2 to outwit scammers and waste their time, is November’s recipient of the Joy of Digital Award. Created using generative AI by VCCP’s AI agency Faith, Daisy can keep fraudsters on the line for a whopping 45 minutes to an hour with meandering monologues about knitting, grandchildren and the best way to bake a scone. “With her cosy...

The government published the green paper in October, outlining a bold 10-year vision to incentivize growth in high-potential sectors while prioritizing Net Zero, regional development and economic resilience. Our response zeroes in on the key consultation areas most relevant to our sector and urges the government to adopt a principles-based approach to digital policymaking that incentivises innovation, supports responsible self-regulation and recognises the critical role of digital advertising in...

The Department for Science and Technology’s Responsible Technology Adoption Unit and the Information Commissioner’s Office has released a PETs Cost-Benefit Awareness Tool to help organisations understand and assess the costs and benefits associated with adopting a variety of privacy enhancing technologies - you can find it here. The tool focuses on ‘emerging PETs’, a group of technologies that provide novel solutions to privacy challenges in modern data-driven systems. Examples of emerging PETs...

As digital advertising evolves and diversifies, there is no better place than an IAB Community to embrace growth, enhance your network and elevate your voice. Communities are either formed around specific channels (DOOH, Search, Retail Media, Gaming etc.) or are focused on areas that are relevant to everyone - such as environmental sustainability and inclusion, diversity & equity. Why join an IAB Community? IAB Communities are open for all IAB UK members to join - giving you influence, equipping...

IAB Debrief opened with an inspiring message from IAB UK’s CMO, James Chandler, who shared his wish for attendees: “My hope is that you’re compelled to create such an exceptional campaign between now and next year that you’ll want to share it with us and be here on this stage.” Throughout the morning, the audience was treated to a series of insightful sessions from leading advertisers and agencies. Here are seven key takeaways from the event: Nudge your audience into action Ryan Dunlop, Strategy...

Hosted by Adwanted UK, The Future of TV Advertising Global 2024 is an annual event which brings together a senior audience of media owners, pay-tv operators, advertising agencies, brands and ad tech firms, for two days of networking and debate about how to evolve television to be better traded, targeted, data-led and measured. This year, the Future of Video follows the event - taking place on the afternoon of Wednesday 11 December. Speakers from Amazon Ads, Comcast Advertising, Google, ITV, MG...

The latest figures from the Advertising Association (AA) and WARC show UK advertisers are projected to spend a record £10.5 billion during this year’s festive season, marking a 7.8% increase on the £9.7 billion spent last year. The AA/WARC report highlights the growing importance of digital media channels, with online display advertising, including social media, expected to see a 15.8% rise in spend. Other digital platforms, such as online radio and broadcaster video on demand (BVOD), will see...

What’s the context? In July 2024, Google announced a new direction for Privacy Sandbox , stating that it would no longer be removing third-party cookies on Chrome in 2024 as planned. Instead, it proposed to “introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time. We're discussing this new path with regulators, and will engage with the industry as we roll this out." You can read...

“We predict that connected TV ad spend is going to reach £3bn by 2028, according to IAB Compass ”, explained James Chandler, IAB UK’s CMO, opening the morning. Kristie Naha-Biswas, Head of Insight at IAB UK, put this growth into context by outlining how audiences are shifting from linear to CTV - time spent on the latter is 2 hours 90 mins a day for the average UK adult (an increase of 36 mins vs 2014). She explained that there is currently a gulf between the amount of time spent with CTV and...

The latest figures from the Advertising Association and WARC show UK advertising spend increased 13.5% to £19.6bn in H1 – with a recorded £10bn spent during Q2 2024, up 13.4%. The growth, fuelled by strong digital performance and lower comparative results from 2023, exceeded forecasts by over four percentage points. And with the first-half results in, AA/WARC has revised its 2024 forecast upward by 2.9 percentage points, now expecting total ad spend to exceed £40 billion for the first time to...

“ Today’s Budget provides welcome clarity about the new Government’s plans, lifting some of the uncertainty that stalled marketing spend in Q3 . It comes on the same day as the release of our Digital Adspend update for H1 2024 , which shows that the total digital ad market grew 16% in the first half of the year, largely driven by investment in online video - up 26%. The fact that UK GDP grew by a far more conservative 0.5% during the same period indicates that marketers have continued to...

Created with OMD UK and social agency Coolr, the 90s revival ad features actor and singer Martine McCutcheon reworking the lyrics to ‘Ooh Aah Just A Lidl Bit’ to showcase the benefits of the Lidl Plus app – with the help of Charity Shop Sue, Diane from Traitors and Gareth Howells, Founder of Hunsnet. The celebration of Hun culture - which saw Lidl partner with Hunsnet - has all the ingredients of stand-out shareable social content with takeovers across TikTok, YouTube and Meta, alongside an...

Video display continued to drive investment across the UK market, marking the fourth year in a row that digital video has recorded double digit growth in H1 - indicating that advertisers are prioritising the brand building opportunities and high impact formula offered by the format. Overall, the UK digital ad market saw 16% YoY growth with spend reaching £16.2bn - far outstripping UK GDP that returned to cautious growth of 0.5% YoY during the same period. Meanwhile, search advertising performed...

“Gaming just remains this incredible high-growth opportunity - It's an industry by our own estimates that could be worth as much as £2 billion in advertising by 2026”, declared James Chandler, IAB UK’s CMO, opening our fifth annual Gaming Upfronts. The event attracted advertisers, agency strategists and key players in the industry to examine the emerging potential within the gaming industry. Here are our six takeouts... Work with, not just for, your community Amazon Ads kicked off the first...

“We predict that Connected TV ad spend is going to reach £3bn in the UK by 2028”, said James Chandler, IAB UK’s CMO, quoting IAB Compass to open our 2024 Connected TV Upfronts. And while CTV is fast becoming a stalwart on media plans as large brands harness its premium quality environment and smart targeting, James pointed out that one of the key drivers of future growth will be mid-size businesses. What followed was an essential download of expert advice and unmissable opportunities from the...

The Data (Access and Use) Bill, one of the first new pieces of legislation introduced by the Labour Government, is focused on the role data can play in economic growth and delivering public services while ensuring that personal data is protected. It contains some provisions that were in the previous Government’s Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, including on cookie consent, which is relevant to digital advertising. In a significant move, reflecting industry concerns, the new Data...

“This genuinely could be the area of the industry that has the biggest potential”, announced James Chandler, IAB UK’s CMO. “All the products, the newness, the relationship with consumers on a near-daily basis - the work of trying to get people to trust us already exists.” James went on to share a first look at new data from the IAB projecting advertising spend on retail media will exceed £1bn next year, and over the course of the afternoon, we heard why data points, brand collaborations and...

Advertisers’ investment in on and off-site retail media is set to surpass £1bn in the UK next year - excluding spend on Amazon - according to new data from IAB UK. The forecast underscores the buoyant health of the market as advertisers look to leverage the vast wealth of first-party data retailers can offer. Adding Amazon to the mix, retail media spend is on track to break through the £7bn mark in 2028. To put the scale and rate of that growth in context, spend on social display in the UK...