The uncertainty across the UK about whether to remain in the European Union has seen TV and print ad spend bearing the brunt across the UK, according to WPP.

If the UK were to remain within the EU, WPP’s media arm GroupM predicts ad spend would increase “moderately” in the second half of the year. The Brexit vote (British-Exit) is scheduled for Thursday, UK time.

The ad spend forecast was initially supposed to increase 7.2 per cent for this year, but that’s been downgraded to 6.3 per cent. It means it’s a drop of £220 million, of which majority is coming from the TV and print markets. Still, the forecast is at a healthy increase of £17.3 billion, making it one of the fastest growing markets, says GroupM.

While the media network says the drop is due to wage growth, job creation and consumer spending, it notes these issues have been magnified by the European Union Referendum.

TV ad spend has been hit the hardest, dropping from a forecast of 7.4 per cent increase to just 2.6 per cent increase.

And print didn’t fare much better either. It was supposed to only decline 6 per cent, but is now forecast to drop 12 per cent. The Guardian is reporting this drop is from advertisers who have refrained from committing a marketing budget until the result of the Brexit vote is known.

“We came into the year predicting +7 per cent for TV and now we are at 2-3 per cent, in part thanks to a harder comparison created by TV outperforming in 2015,” said Adam Smith, futures director, GroupM in a statement.

“We’d agree with ITV’s remark that softness set in around 20 February, when the EU referendum was announced. Although TV subsequently lost momentum, and it is relatively easy to defer TV investment, we still think a degree of post-EU referendum recovery is a likely scenario.”

Still, digital is plodding along nicely, remaining the main contributor for investment growth. ‘Digital’ and ‘pureplay internet’ is forecast to take up a 50.8 per cent spend this year.

Lead image via YouTube.