UK social media ban ‘likely to cause £1.3bn drop’ in digital advertising spend

Brands are expected to cut more than £1bn of digital advertising spending due to the UK’s ban on social media for under-16s, with streaming services tipped to benefit as advertisers try to reach large audiences of teenagers. The ban, due to come into force early next year, will leave UK advertisers scrambling to reassess marketing plans as millions of under-16s effectively disappear as a demographic that can be marketed to on platforms including Facebook, Instagram , Snapchat and YouTube. Analysts at eMarketer cut their existing forecast for UK digital advertising spend for 2027 by £1.3bn to £17bn after assessing the ban’s likely impact. Research conducted last month by Beano Brain, the kids and family research agency, found that among seven- to 14-year-olds a third said that YouTube ads and YouTubers were how they found out about new things that they wanted to buy. A quarter of those surveyed cited TikTok videos while 22% said TV ads influenced their buying decisions. Helenor Gilmour, head of the DC Thomson-owned agency, said teenagers and younger children will continue to see some social media through “parallel me time” with their parents but streaming services could pick up business as a result of the ban. “There is certainly going to be a period of readjustment,” said Gilmour. “Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ have ad tiers now, and kids are all over those platforms. …