MUMBAI: The advertising spends of UK have remained steady despite turmoil in the global economy.

In the first quarter of 2012, UK's ad spend increased by 1.1 per cent, according to Advertising Association /Warc study.

UK ad expenditure is expected to improve over the year, reaching overall growth of 2.5 per cent in 2012 with forecasts of a further rise of 4.4 per cent in 2013.

The ad expenditure is predicted to reach a value of £16.8 billion in 2012 and £17.4billion in 2013.

The report provides the comprehensive measure of UK advertising activity. It includes an overview of advertising spend by individual media, encompassing print, TV, internet, radio, cinema and out of home.

Internet spend is estimated to have grown by 11.1 per cent in Q1 2012 compared with Q1 2011 and is expected to remain strong throughout the year, with a forecast of 10.1 per cent growth and an overall value of £5.3 billion in 2012.

Out of home saw a 3.1 per cent increase in Q1 2012, in a year when Olympic and Paralympic Games are expected to drive overall growth by 4.1 per cent to £0.9 billion.

Radio grew by 6.9 per cent in Q1 with forecasts of 3.8 per cent (£0.4bn) in the year overall.

As per the report, the government ad spend is set to increase faster than any other category in 2012 which is traditionally a strong source of radio revenues. Cinema expenditure increased by 9.5 per cent in Q1 with a positive forecast of 3.1 per cent for 2012 (£0.2bn) as a whole.

Meanwhile, the television ad spends fell 0.7 per cent in the quarter but is expected to remain broadly steady with 0.3 per cent growth (£4.2bn) for the year.

The study revealed that the spend was weakest in press, with a decline of 10 per cent. Overall, press is forecast to fall by 5.1 per cent in 2012 (£3.7bn), though spend is predicted to stabilise in 2013.

Advertising Association chief executive Tim Lefroy said, "In the face of global economic uncertainty, UK advertising holds a steady course. Evidence shows that advertising invigorates GDP growth, so a healthy ad market is good news for the whole economy, not just advertisers."

Warc data editor Suzy Young added, "It remains a very short term market. There is some evidence that TV advertisers, for example, have brought budgets forward to Q2 from Q3 to get the benefit of marketing spend now as prospects for the rest of the year remain unclear."