• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, November 30, 2015

U.K. advertising spending is expected to grow another 7% in 2016 (matching this year’s growth) to above 17 billion British pounds, about $25.6 billion at today’s exchange rate, according to GroupM’s latest forecast for the market. 

The UK’s ad market, which has been strong for a while, appears to be gaining more strength. The just-issued estimate is an upgraded prediction for the market. Earlier GroupM had called for 6% growth this year and a slight slowing of growth next year to 5%. 

If GroupM’s latest forecast proves accurate, 2016 will mark the fifth straight year in which U.K. ad spending has outpaced the market’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth. The U.K. remains the fastest-growing mature advertising market worldwide and is among the world’s fastest-growing markets overall, according to GroupM’s estimate. 

GroupM cited several factors it considered for its revised forecast. 

The UK now has the highest recorded employment rate in its history with 74% of the working-aged populace in jobs. Additionally, workers' real wages have risen near to their 2008 peak, while inflation has not similarly risen.  Low energy prices and property wealth are factors that will likely contribute to UK consumers spending more next year,  which will help drive greater ad  expenditures to sway consumer purchases.  

GroupM has changed its breakouts to include a “Pure Play” Internet expenditure category, which breaks out the digital pounds being spent with traditional TV and print media companies. While delineating Pure Play Internet gives legacy media a “fairer consideration,” GroupM noted that the impact is slight on the still rapid growth of the internet category which is estimated to be 13% in 2016. 

“With this year’s U.K. forecast we seek to make better sense of the investment trends across categories with ‘Pure Play Internet,’” said Adam Smith, GroupM’s chief forecaster. “We feel this is essential as content continues to rise with the browsing appetites of our increasingly digital culture.” 

Digital’s influence, Smith added, is also “driving demand for better reporting standards.”  Standards improvement is something that many have been calling for for a number of years and WPP executives, starting with CEO Martin Sorrell have been quite vocal on the topic throughout 2015.

In fact, earlier this year, Sorrell raised the idea of a merger between comScore and Rentrak (WPP has an ownership stake in both) as a way to devise new and better digital measurement standards. Months later, the firms did strike a deal to merge, an agreement that is expected to be completed early next year. 

GroupM will issue its full 2016 global expenditure forecast next week at the UBS media conference in New York. However, a rep said that the “Pure Play Internet” category won’t be part of it and that it is only being applied to the UK forecast for now.