Facebook and Netflix helped UK TV ad spending hit a record £5bn in 2015, Thinkbox says

Revenues from advertising rose 7.4 per cent to £5.27 billion in 2015

Facebook launched its first UK TV ads in 2015. (Facebook)

Tech companies pushed TV advertising revenue in the UK passed a record £5 billion for the first time in 2015.

The record spend marked the sixth consecutive year of growth. Tech giants like Facebook and Netflix, which spend more than half of their marketing budget on TV, are responsible for the trend, according Thinkbox, a marketing body that uses Nielsen data.

Revenues from advertising rose 7.4 per cent to £5.27 billion last year, Thinkbox said.

The figure represents all the money invested by advertisers in commercial TV including linear spot and sponsorship, Broadcaster video on demand (e.g BBC player, ITV player) and product placement.

Online businesses are behind the record rise, according to the data. Now the second biggest category of advertisers on television, they have invested over £500 million in TV in 2015, an increase of 14 per cent on 2014.

Thinkbox said that some companies were spending over 60 per cent of their marketing budgets on TV advertising.

Facebook invested the most in advertising of any TV advertiser at £10.8 million, Thinkbox said. This included 877 new brands which went on TV for the first time or returned to television after a five years absence, the study said.

Google told the Independent that it didn't spend anywhere near 60 per cent of its marketing budget on TV

It said that the vast majority of Google’s budget is spent online, and TV is only a fraction of the non-digital budget.

Facebook's TV ad, "Friend Request." (Facebook)

Lindsey Clay, chief executive of Thinkbox, said online companies know TV advertising works better than anything else because of its scale and connection with the audiences.

“Online businesses in particular recognise the impact TV advertising has and have significantly increased their investment recently. This is something we expect to continue in 2016,” she said.

Long established TV marketers such as motors, finance and household also increased their budget, according to the data.

Procter & Gamble was the most viewed TV advertiser in 2015 with 30.5 billion views. It was followed by Sky with 21.2 billion views, Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser each with 20.3 billion views, and Mars with 16.4 billion views, according to data from the Broadcaster’s Audience Research Board (BARB).

Overall, TV outpaced the broader ad market with 26.9 per cent of the total ad market.