Published: Saturday 1st January 2022

So the big question on everyone’s lips is “How much does it cost to advertise on TV in the UK?”

In order to answer this question in its entirety it is imperative that we break it down into two fundamental parts, namely:-

1. TV production costs (the budget required to create your advert)

2. Media Buying costs (the budget required to purchase airtime for your advert)

It is important to set aside budget for both of these activities and work with your media buying company to ensure that your advert is shown to your target audience at the best possible times on the best possible platforms.

TV Production Costs

Your TV production costs will be based on a number of factors, the major elements being your aspirations and scripts. Other factors include the length of your TV advert, whether you require actors to deliver your message or just require a simple voiceover, music royalties, location and equipment hire, potential animations, special effects and post production costs.

The style of your film/TV advert could also have an impact on cost (whether you require a drone or just a standard ground based film crew …. or if you’re brave enough and just going to film your TV advert off an iPhone or similar mobile device (this is not overly advisable but with modern technology being as advanced and capable as it is, filming a high quality advert on a mobile phone device isn’t too improbable).

It is advised to hire the services of a professional TV production company (as the quality of adverts which you will be competing against on TV are so impressive but very achievable with the assistance of industry experts). A TV production company will ensure that your adverts are produced to the best possible standards and conform to all the criteria necessary to pass Clearcast (Clearcast is the organisation responsible for vetting and certifying all adverts which are aired in the UK, all adverts must pass their checks and adhere to the Clearcast standards to ensure they are not offensive, misleading or harmful).

So what is a realistic starting point (in terms of costs) for all this? As previously mentioned this can vary wildly from a low budget but highly effective production (such as the One Dollar Shave Club advert) to a blockbuster production incorporating actors and movie level special effects. If we had to give you a ballpark figure for the amount to spend on an entry level micro-regional TV advert, the TV production costs would start at approximately £3,000, with most adverts costing between £5,000 - £10,000 to produce. A local advertising campaign in the UK could cost in the region of £3,500 with a national campaign starting at around £10,000. The reason for the disparity in production costs between a micro-regional, local, regional and national TV advert is the associated fees.

TV Advertising Landscape

It is no secret that traditional TV and online viewing times are increasing year on year (BARB - the gold standard in media research, is an organisation which collects device-based data when any person in the UK watches a broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD) service, regardless of whether they view the programme on their PCs, tablets or on their smartphones. The combination of this data coupled with the traditional TV stats provides granular information on how TV is being viewed by the UK public), in 2020 it was reported by BARB that the average person in the UK watched just over 3 hours’ worth of TV a day which was an increase of approximately 10% YoY.  This daily TV viewing statistic equates to an average of 39 adverts consumed per person per day. 

TV is still the most popular form of video, despite the surge in numbers of mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets) coupled with faster broadband speeds within households, TV still accounts for just under 70% of the average amount of video consumed.   

During Oct 2021, the top 5 most watched programmes (out of 275 channels reviewed) were:-

These figures are based on audience as viewed (including stats from HD channels), programmes of less than 5 minutes are omitted from this data.

[There were no records for the selected period for Sky History, Sky History2, B4U Music, BBC News 24 (inc HD), BT Sport 3, Eurosport, PTC Punjabi, TBN UK, Kanshi TV, SAB, Sony MAX, E! Total, Movies 24, Movies 24+, Syfy Total, New Vision TV, Clubland TV, NOW 70s, NOW 80s, NOW 90s, Sky Cinema Comedy, Sky Cinema Greats, Sky Sports Cricket, Forces TV, Utsav Bharat, Utsav Plus, Talking Pictures, 4Music, Box Hits, Kerrang, Kiss TV, Magic TV, The Box, Trace Urban, MTV Euro Live

During this period, online data were provided by All 4 Android OD, All 4 Android Live, All 4 iOS OD, All 4 iOS Live, All 4 Web OD, All 4 Web Live, BBC iPlayer Android OD, BBC iPlayer Android Live, BBC iPlayer iOS OD, BBC iPlayer iOS Live, BBC iPlayer Web OD, BBC iPlayer Web Live, ITV Hub Android OD, ITV Hub Android Live, ITV Hub iOS OD, ITV Hub iOS Live, ITV Hub Web OD, ITV Hub Web Live, My5 Web OD, My5 Web Live, My5 Android OD, My5 iOS OD, My5 iOS Live, S4C Clic Web OD, S4C Clic Web Live, Sky Go iOS OD, Sky Go iOS Live, Sky Go Web OD, Sky Go Web Live, STV Player Android OD, STV Player Android Live, STV Player iOS OD, STV Player Web OD, UKTV Android OD, UKTV iOS OD, UKTV Web OD, Sky Kids Android OD, Sky Kids iOS OD]

From the data we can see that The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4 and Coronation Street on ITV present great advertising opportunities for companies wishing to reach a significant proportion of the UK TV viewing audience. It is worth mentioning that just because a TV show captures a massive audience it doesn’t necessarily mean it is a show within which you should advertise. The most important factor to consider when media buying (ad slots) is your target audience and what types of TV shows they would be watching. If your business is selling baking goods, kitchenware or home improvements (such as kitchen fittings and installations) then advertising during the Great British Bake Off would be ideal. It is highly likely that your target audience would be watching a show of this nature and due to the viewership you would be bound to capture a large number of customers (provided you have adequate and audience appropriate “calls to action” within your ad).

It is estimated that traditional TV commercials are viewed by 87% of the UK population every week (and this figure does not include BVOD).

According to data from Thinkbox, post pandemic TV ad data has seen a slight reduction in TV advertisers although the TV viewership has increased slightly since 2020 (final figures are still yet to be delivered). This shift in the market has seen a lot of discounted TV ad slots as an incentive to encourage more advertisers to the TV arena, reducing the cost barrier to entry. Now a significantly smaller investment is required to get on the box (and coupled with the additional potential discounts media buyers can negotiate on your behalf with the various channels whom they have special relationships with) there has never been a better time to get on TV. Less advertisers means less competition and more potential ad slots for you to be seen by your target audience.

Media Buying Costs

As previously mentioned the price of media buying is not set in stone, prices are extremely flexible and can vary with seasonal changes (advertising at Christmas for example will be at a premium compare to other times of year), time of day (prime time TV ad slots compared to off peak or less popular programmes) and the type of channel/platform will affect the price. Another factor which will determine the price of the ad slots purchased will be the relationship the media buying company has with the relative channels/platforms and also the discounts which can be offered by said channels/platforms (similar to the post pandemic reduction offered to entice new advertisers into the TV ad space).

Surprisingly as a marketing channel, TV is the only one which has decreased in cost over the years, all other forms such as radio, display, events, print etc.. have increased in pricing and TV is arguably the most effective of the entire marketing mix, yielding an immediate ROI of approximately £1.79 per £1 spent (which can grow to as much as £4.20 over the course of 3 – 5 years according to Thinkbox data).

Other factors which affect the cost of an advertising campaign are the length of your ad (the industry standard is 30 seconds but you can do more or less depending on your message and budget), the demographic (it is now possible for broadcasters such as SKY to target specific households dependant on their demographic make-up, the more specific the targeting the higher the cost) and the geolocation (it is possible to target specific areas of the country such as London or the North East – price will vary dependant on population density).

If you are a new advertiser to TV then we would recommend entry level spend, GTTV are well versed at dealing with TV advertising campaigns at a micro region level all the way up to a national level.

TV advert spots in programmes such as Good Morning Britain and Lorraine are not available for micro region level TV advertising campaigns but can be bought at a regional level, however these prices vary so wildly it would be callous of us to provide you with even a range. However, for shows like This Morning, Lunchtime News and Dickinson’s Real Deal you could be looking at as little as £200 per 30 second slot (but as previously mentioned the prices are likely to vary around this figure).

Sticking with costs for regional level advertising, a 30 second advert spot during Tipping Point or Tenable will cost around £450, The Chase (which is now classed as early peak as it has a huge audience) will cost approximately £750 per 30 second spot.

Soaps like Emmerdale and Coronation Street do vary in price quite a lot but the average cost for a spot are around £1300 per 30 seconds. Please bear in mind that these figures are based at the micro-regional to regional level of TV advertising.

So now we can move on to some national examples below (of TV ad slot costs from ITV and Channel 4) to provide you with an idea of ballpark figures at the upper end (but as previously mentioned these can vary dependant on the factors outlined above).

Advertising on a long standing channel such as ITV can be very lucrative but it’s worth bearing in mind that there are also subsidiary channels such as ITV2, ITV3 and ITVbe to name a few which can be included in the marketing mix for your TV ad campaigns. Channels like ITVbe predominately show reality TV based shows and if your products appeal to that particular audience then this channel could be the perfect place to showcase your advert on a prestigious network at an affordable rate.

Channel 4 is consistently building its reputation as a flagship channel, boasting an enviable portfolio of premium TV shows such as The Great British Bake Off, Hollyoaks and Gogglebox. Similar to ITV, Channel 4 also has subsidiary channels like E4, More 4, 4-7 and Film 4 which are worth consideration.

Channel 5 is the last UK terrestrial channel on which you can advertise, it has a smaller audience than the other two networks but has a more family orientated vibe to their TV shows. So if you are advertising something for the family then this is a great place to consider as it has very affordable rates in comparison to the other two (for example a 30 second advert in a flagship show such as Big Brother would cost between £2,000 - £4,000). Channel 5 also has subsidiary channels for contemplation like 5star, 5select and 5USA.

Advertising on SKY is surprisingly cost effective when compared to terrestrial channels due to their audience size. Ad slots on SKY TV can start from as low as £100 and an AdSmart campaign starts from £3,000 (serving ads to your target demographic and only charges you for an impression if 70% if the ad is viewed).

You’ll be even more surprised to learn that there are channels which offer even lower rates than SKY to showcase your advert, these tend to be smaller digital platforms/channels but they still have an adequate audience.

So how much does a TV advert cost? If you want to create a decent advert and run a short but effective regional campaign we would suggest an entry level budget of approximately £3,500.  For a national campaign we would recommend at least £10,000, these budgets would include your TV production, media buying and ad campaign costs but please bear in mind that the more you spend on an engaging, compelling advert then the greater your return on investment will be (as you will convert more customers and be seen as a credible, trustworthy business if you produce a high quality and audience satisfying advertising campaign).