McDonald’s Restaurants was the third biggest spender, jumping from fifth place in 2018, with advertising spend having increased by 28%.
McDonald’s spend increased from £95.6m in 2017 to £122.6m in 2018, overtaking BT (down 5.6% to £109.3m) and Unilever (down 29.2% to £82.8m) – the first time that Unilever has fallen out of the top three advertisers in the last five years.
Other significant movers include Amazon, which increased advertising spend by 18% (£74m to £87.5m), and Compare the Market (up 30% to £62.2m) and Camelot Lottery (up 40% to £53.3m).
Sky (down 30% to £124m) had the biggest decline among the top spenders. In terms of supermarket retailers, Asda has risen into the top 10, showing double digit percentage increase in advertising spend. Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s dropped from the Top 100, with Tesco, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl also showing to have reduced their spend in 2018.