▪ In September, the IAB reported half-yearly digital ad spend of £10.5bn in the UK for H1 2021 – an increase of 49% vs H1 2020, and 42% vs H1 2019, the last comparable period that did not include lockdown measure. Notably, advertisers and businesses found themselves better equipped to deal with a further national lockdown than in H1 2020, underpinned by growing consumer confidence as people of all ages adapted to digital-led lifestyles1 ▪ Leading the pack, search remained the biggest single digital ad channel at £5.5bn, although both video (OTT) and smartphone grew fastest relative to 2019 at 79% and 75% respectively1. Video game advertising was a further beneficiary, up 17% YoY, as advertisers realised the benefits of unlocking the high-value gamer demographic3 ▪ These trends point to growing confidence in the wider advertising market, with strong upward revision of forecasts for the remainder of 2021. The IAB’s UK CEO Jon Mew commented: “The pandemic forced businesses to either accelerate or improve their e-commerce offering to cater to a nation of housebound consumers – we saw three years of change take place in just three months. Advertisers in turn adopted a more digital-heavy strategy as it was the medium least impacted by lockdowns.”