18.10.201702:00:00UTC+00UK Marketing Budget Growth Weakest Since 2016

UK companies' marketing budgets increased in the third quarter but the pace of growth was the weakest in more than a year, the latest IPA Bellwether Report showed Wednesday.

The survey showed that about 11 percent of companies recording a cut to their marketing budgets, the resulting net balance of +9.9 percent was notably down on the second quarter's +13.1 percent and the lowest reading since the first quarter of 2016.

Nonetheless, the increase in marketing budget extended the current survey record period of growth to five years.

"What strikes us most from this quarter's report is the extent to which UK companies - and their marketing budgets - are caught up in the wider economic and geo-political uncertainty," Paul Bainsfair, IPA Director General, said.

"The vast majority are in a seeming state of paralysis, reflected in the fact that almost 70 percent of UK marketers haven't revised their budgets one way or another from this quarter to last," Bainsfair added.