Advertising market defies Brexit gloom as budgets hit two-year high

The Mad Men aren’t worried about a Brexit or the pound. Figures from advertising land show that ad budgets are at their highest for two years.

The IPA Bellwether report, published by IHS Markit on behalf of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, said its forecast for advertising spending growth was revised up to 1.9% for 2016, compared with its previous forecast of a 0.2% decline.

The advertising sector had expected big companies would cut spending due to uncertainty over the European Union. Today’s report said a net balance of 13.4% of companies increased their budgets in the third quarter, up from 10.7% in the previous quarter.

“A number of companies are looking through the uncertainty and see a new range of opportunities,” said Paul Smith, senior economist at IHS Markit.

The forecast for 2017 advertising spending was revised to a drop of 0.7% after the previous forecast of a 1.3% fall.