英国广告、营销与数据行业展望2026：持续演进

AboutWinterberry Group A specialized managementconsultancy that offers more thantwo decades of experience anddeep expertise in the intersectingdisciplines ofadvertising,marketing, data, technology,mediaandcommerce. Winterberry Group helps brands,publishers, marketing serviceproviders, technology developersand information companies—plusthe financial investors who supportthese organizations—understandemerging growth opportunities,create actionable strategiesandincrease their value and globalimpact. Looking Back at 2025 A Year of Tariff Shock, Stubborn Inflation and the Impact of AI Marketing Spend Anticipated to Continue to Outstrip HistoricTrends Review 2025:Another Year of Strong Growth, Online Continuesto Take Share Review 2025:Offline Spend Supported by Buoyant Events &Sponsorship Review 2025:Direct Mail Continues to Decline Review 2025:Online Continues to Expand with Strong Growth inSocial, Video, and Creator Review 2025:The Fuel Behind Digital Spend Continues to GrowStrongly 2025 Marketing M&A Trends:HeightenedActivity Span Marketingand Media, Financial Buyers Outspending Strategics In 2025, global M&A deal value reached $4.9 trillion,marking a 44%increase compared to 2024; highest value ever, other than the 2021 record Agency, Media and Marketing Tech consolidation accelerates,reflectsa shift toward scale, cost synergies and changing agency economics 2025 M&A Trends:Improving Market Conditions ReactivatedCapital Across Buyers and Strategies Asteady increase in transactions, as improving financing conditions andstabilizing macro sentiment, with overall deal value growth outpacingtransaction volumes in the back half of 2025 Great businesses transacted well,reflecting a desire to invest in qualitybusinesses with clear strategy and growth. Those below this level facedlong sale processes and renegotiation to facilitate successful investment AI was the dominant recipient of VC investment dollars,sustaining arecord share of funding—over half of global and U.S. VC investment—through 2025, increasingly concentrated in outsized rounds Fund-to-fund transfers gained further momentum across PEs,withsecondaries transaction values accelerating through Q3 2025 andpositioning the market for a record-setting year, driven by increased use ofcontinuation vehicles amid extended exit timelines 2025 Notable Deals:Accelerating M&A Momentum Heading Into2026 Across All Sectors Macro Trends: What’s Driving the Market Trend:AI's Foundation Problem—Everyone Wants Agentic,Companies Are Still Trying to Get Their Data Ready AI investments continued to move towards agentic solutions in2025, yetlack of clarity around use cases, data silos and/orcreative infrastructure slows transformation. Significant progress isshown inagentic adoption for marketing use cases led bycreative production and media. Trend:Linear TV Becomes the Extension as CTV Takes Center Stage The power dynamic flipped in 2025:Linear now extendsstreaming strategies rather than CTV extending linear buys. Thespread between CTV and linear narrowed to ~£0.6BBasstreaming channels sign more sports contracts. Planning shiftsfrom network first to audience buying across delivery media. ImpactMedia planning starts itsagentic shiftwhereagents assistplanners to merge audience and media strategy andactivationforstreaming, linear and creator led videoformats.Measurement frameworks are continuing to evolve with morecomplex cross-platform attribution solutions. Trend:Social Commerce Accelerates—Creators Drive DirectTransactions The shift from influencer to creator marketing acceleratedin 2025, withcreators driving more unique contentthat blendswith social commerce adoption.Creators generating contentto drive engagement/conversiongained ground overinfluencers focused on reach Trend:Commerce Media Networks Expand Across Verticals—Measurement Challenges Continue to Dominate Conversation prioritize purchase intent audiences and closed-loopmeasurement. Market moves beyond retail as Marriott, Uber,AMEX,Paypal, etc. provide unique audience data and placement. ImpactAs mid and smaller footprint media networks (traffic andaudience) face scale limitations,expect platformconsolidation to simplify buying complexity and frequencymanagement.Measurement and attribution remainsfragmented and complex challenging future adoption Trend:Search Shifts to GEO and AEO—Traditional SEO StrategiesBecome Obsolete Trend:Pressure for Ad Tech Optimization as Providers Compete toStreamline the Supply Path Between Advertisers and Publishers Amazon DSP aggressively moved outside its walls,providingsignificant price pressurebased on itsstrong transaction dataand lower overall take rates. Meta Advantage+ and GooglePerformance Max gained share for the gardens. Independent SSPsand DSPs are rethinking the next phase of the AdTech model. ImpactThe Agentification ofadtech planning and buying solutions,is enabling a shift to more custom digital audiences'continuous optimizationacross the ful