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June 1, 2026
Social Platforms Overindex When Comparing Media Spend With Time Spent
Note
Digital ad revenues include banner ads and other (static display ads such as Facebook's Feed Ads and X's Promoted Posts), classified ads, email (embedded ads only), rich media (including in-stream and outstream video ads), search ads (including contextual text links, paid inclusion, and paid ... listings, and excluding display-oriented formats on social networks, even if triggered by search queries), sponsorships, and lead generation (referrals). Rich media data for 2017-2022 includes in-stream and outstream video ads; data prior to 2017 includes only outstream video ads. Mobile messaging (SMS, MMS, and P2P messaging) is excluded. Social networks are sites where the primary activities involve creating a profile and interacting with a network of contacts by sharing updates, comments, photos, or other content. BVOD is digital video content from any traditional UK public service broadcaster that is made accessible online and on-demand. It includes services such as All 4, ITVX, and My5. Time spent with each medium includes multitasking; for example, 1 hour of multitasking on a mobile phone while watching TV is counted as 1 hour for mobile phone and 1 hour for TV. Figures are rounded to the nearest minute. Estimates of average time spent with media are based on the total UK adult population according to the latest UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) release, not the number of users of each medium.Methodology
Time spent estimates are based on the analysis of estimates from other research firms, consumer media consumption trends, device adoption trends, company reports, primary research, and interviews. Ad spending estimates are based on the analysis of various elements related to the ad spending market, including macro-level economic conditions, historical trends of the advertising market, historical trends of each medium in relation to other media, reported revenues from major ad publishers, estimates from other research firms, data from benchmark sources, consumer media consumption trends, consumer device usage trends, and EMARKETER interviews with executives at ad agencies, brands, media publishers, and other industry leaders.Featured In
UK Ad Spending vs. Time Spent 2026Sources
Chart Title
Social Platforms Overindex When Comparing Media Spend With Time SpentPublication Date
June 1, 2026