How much does advertising cost in the UK?

Different media use different pricing models. Understanding them makes quotes easier to compare.

CPM — cost per thousand impressions

The price for every thousand times an advertisement is served or seen. Common in display, programmatic, social, video, connected TV and digital out-of-home.

CPC — cost per click

The price paid each time someone clicks. Common in paid search and some social and display buying. A low CPC is only useful if the clicks turn into customers.

CPA / CPL — cost per acquisition or lead

Usually a result calculated after the campaign — media cost divided by sales or leads — rather than a price paid. Some platforms offer bidding towards a target CPA, but the actual cost varies, and lead quality matters as much as the number.

Fixed media cost

A set price for a defined placement and period — for example specific out-of-home panels, a print placement or a sponsorship package.

Airtime and spot buying

Radio and television airtime is bought by station or channel, daypart and number of spots, often priced against the audience it is expected to deliver.

How it is usually bought: through an auction, usually paying per click, with daily or campaign budgets set by the advertiser.

What affects the price: keyword competition, the quality and relevance of ads and landing pages, location targeting, time of day and how many other advertisers are bidding.

More on Google Ads advertising.

How it is usually bought: through an auction on Facebook and Instagram, typically priced per thousand impressions, with the platform optimising towards a chosen objective.

What affects the price: audience size and competition, objective, creative performance, seasonality and placement.

More on Meta Ads advertising.

How it is usually bought: by site or package for a set period, or by share of time on digital screens.

What affects the price: location, audience, format, campaign length, time of year and availability.

More on Outdoor advertising.

How it is usually bought: by panel for a fixed period, individually or as part of a package.

What affects the price: the site's position and traffic, size, whether it is digital or paper, demand and the number of weeks.

More on Billboards advertising.

How it is usually bought: as airtime by station, daypart and number of spots, sometimes with sponsorship or promotions.

What affects the price: station audience, coverage area, time of day, time of year, spot length and production.

More on Radio advertising.

How it is usually bought: as airtime priced against audience delivery, alongside production and clearance.

What affects the price: target audience, region, channel, daypart, season and the cost of producing a broadcast-standard advertisement.

More on Television advertising.

How it is usually bought: on a CPM basis, directly from broadcasters' streaming services or programmatically.

What affects the price: audience targeting, platform, completion requirements and inventory demand.

More on Connected TV advertising.

How it is usually bought: through an auction, priced per view or per thousand impressions depending on format.

What affects the price: format, targeting, audience competition and creative length.

More on YouTube advertising.

How it is usually bought: by screen, film or package for a set period.

What affects the price: number of screens, locations, films and audience profile, and time of year.

More on Cinema advertising.

How it is usually bought: on a CPM basis across streaming music and podcast platforms, directly or programmatically.

What affects the price: platform, targeting, format and whether ads are host-read or pre-recorded.

More on Digital audio advertising.

How it is usually bought: by space — title, size, position and issue — with discounts sometimes available for series.

What affects the price: circulation or readership, position, colour, size and publication frequency.

More on Print advertising.

How it is usually bought: as a combination of data, design, print, fulfilment and postage.

What affects the price: volume, format and weight, personalisation, data selection and postage service.

The total cost of a campaign is often more than the media. It can include:

• media
• creative
• production
• agency planning and buying
• landing pages
• tracking
• research
• data
• fulfilment and direct mail costs where relevant

Media cost and production cost should be shown separately so options can be compared fairly.

It can be, if it is focused. £5,000 is usually better concentrated on one or two channels in a defined area or audience than spread across many. Whether it is enough depends on what a customer is worth, how much competition there is and what the advertising needs to achieve.

£10,000 widens the options — a second channel, a larger area or a longer run may become practical — but the same test applies: each channel needs enough budget to do its job, and the objective needs to be proportionate.

A percentage of revenue can give rough context or a starting point, but it is not a substitute for unit economics. Two businesses with identical revenue can have very different margins, customer values and growth goals, and therefore very different sensible budgets.

• customer value
• gross margin
• conversion rate
• sales capacity
• geographic opportunity
• market competition
• growth objective
• media economics

Use our guide to how to split an advertising budget and how much a business should spend on advertising.