Charity Advertising on the Rise

One in every £34 ($AUD 63) spent on advertising in the UK comes from charities and direct marketing constantly dominates paid advertising by charities, according to new research.

Charities have spent £3.4 billion on advertising in the last 10 years, including £2.4 billion on direct mail in the the same time frame.

The study by nfpSynergy found that while there has been a decline in spending on direct marketing in the global market, it still remains the highest advertising expense for charities.

Even if advertising expenditure for charities seems to be a big concern for them, it only represents around 3 per cent of the total UK advertising market, according to researcher from nfpSynergy, Lucie Vales .

The study found that TV spending in the global market is around 30 per cent while that of charities is also increasing.

“Whilst charity media spending is very different to that of the global market, TV is one area where the gap is narrowing. Only spending on TV advertising seems to grow constantly,” Vales said.

“Charities seem to have a consistent advertising strategy, prioritising direct marketing, TV and Press.”

Charities have spent £86.3 million on TV advertising over the last 10 years. This is an annual growth rate of 2.6 per cent  (considered a stable growth) according to the study.

“Nevertheless, we have to keep in mind that in the charity sector, some ad spaces can be offered to charities letting a margin of error to our interpretation, meaning they have more opportunities,” Vales said.

“It is also interesting to see how little of their budgets charities spend on internet advertising. It is constantly growing for other sectors, but remains at around two per cent for charities. It is forecast to represent almost 50 per cent of the total UK advertising market in 2014.”

Overall charity expenditure over the last 10 years by media