The IAB UK's Digital Adspend report for the first half of 2025 confirms that the UK digital advertising market is in good health, but it also maps out a significant shift in how that investment is being deployed.

Total UK digital ad spend reached £18.7bn in H1 2025, with growth forecast to continue at around 10% year-on-year through 2026, putting the full-year trajectory on track to surpass £45 bn. Behind those headline numbers, three trends stand out. Each one sits at the heart of what we do at Vector.

1. Programmatic has become the default

Programmatic now accounts for 78% of all UK digital display spend, representing a landmark in how advertising is planned and traded. This year's report, produced in partnership with Oliver Wyman for the first time, shines a new light on the scale of this transition: automated buying is no longer an emerging approach or a tactical add-on. It is the standard method through which display advertising is transacted.

The implications for brands are direct. When three quarters of all display inventory is bought programmatically, the quality of your audience data, bidding strategy and attribution methodology have become more consequential to performance than almost any other factor in the planning process.

Amazon DSP operates entirely within this programmatic infrastructure. Its combination of first-party shopper data, clean room technology and advanced AI-driven optimisation puts it among the most capable programmatic platforms available to UK advertisers. The recent integration with Netflix, enabling programmatic buying of Netflix inventory through Amazon DSP, extends that capability further still into premium streaming environments.

2. Online retail media has become a major channel in its own right

Retail media reached £1.5 billion in H1 2025, cementing its position as one of the fastest-growing channels in the UK. The direction of travel is clear: brands are moving investment closer to the point of purchase, where consumer intent is demonstrably highest and measurement is closest to closed-loop.

This growth reflects a structural shift in how advertising's role is understood. Performance media has traditionally been managed separately from brand building. Retail media is collapsing that distinction: it can drive immediate sales while simultaneously building brand presence with a highly engaged, in-market audience.

For brands on Amazon, this is a genuine structural advantage. Amazon's retail media environment is the most developed in the UK, offering the deepest combination of purchase intent data, audience scale and full-funnel measurement of any platform in the market.

3. TV+ is reshaping the video investment landscape

Video accounted for £4.3 billion of UK digital ad spend in H1 2025, representing 23% of the total market. Within that, TV+ - the IAB's term for online video delivered to a connected TV screen - took more than a third of all video investment, making it one of the fastest-growing parts of the entire digital advertising landscape.

TV+ is attracting budget because it addresses a persistent tension in advertising: the desire for premium, brand-safe environments alongside the targeting precision and measurability that digital channels can deliver. The IAB's definition of TV+ spans broadcasters, streamers and digital-first platforms, reflecting how completely the line between traditional television and streaming has dissolved.

Prime Video sits within this ecosystem, and with Amazon making advertising the default experience on the platform in 2024, it is one of the most significant TV+ inventory sources available to UK advertisers today. The scale of Prime Video's audience growth, as confirmed by both Ofcom and BARB data, makes this an increasingly important consideration for any brand with meaningful awareness objectives.

What this means for brands working with Vector

These three trends are not independent of each other. The rise of programmatic trading, the growth of retail media and the shift of video investment into premium streaming environments are all converging on a single infrastructure: the Amazon ecosystem.

Through Amazon DSP, brands can access retail media inventory, reach audiences across Prime Video and Netflix, and execute all of it programmatically with Amazon's first-party shopper data at the centre. The result is a more unified view of the customer journey from the first moment of awareness through to the point of purchase.

The IAB UK report makes the direction of travel unmistakable. At Vector, we work across all three of these channels to unlock the full value of the Amazon ecosystem for our brand and agency partners. The future of digital advertising that the report describes is one we are already helping our clients navigate today.

Want to understand how these trends can work for your brand? Get in touch with the Vector Retail Media team.

"The scale of Prime Video's audience growth, as confirmed by both Ofcom and BARB data, makes this an increasingly important consideration for any brand with meaningful awareness objectives."