The UK’s vote to leave the European Union shocked left many around the Globe shocked. Despite Scotland, Northern Ireland and London all voting to stay in the EU the ‘remain’ votes overall stood at 48% of British votes. With the result, instantly, the pound dropped to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 and David Cameron sank himself by resigning in October. However, following the referendum, we have seen a historical plummet and growth beyond our expectations. Since June 2016 we are beginning to experience the real effects of the impact of Brexit in the different industries. So what does the impact of Brexit hold for the UK’s Digital Industry?
Digital Skills Gap
Despite the fact that the digital economy in the UK is responsible for around 10% of the entire UK GDP, there is still a relatively low supply of various digital disciplines in the UK. One of the primary concerns for the digital industry with the referendum result was the narrowing of the digital talent coming from Europe whilst we were already in short supply. The UK through education and the industry itself has been calling for more investment in digital skills and training for years. There has been a clear increase of schemes and courses implemented into early education through to advanced education to help close this skills gap in the UK. The result of Brexit could go either way and decrease the progress made with funding cuts or focus on increasing the investment in digital skills in the UK.
Impact Brexit on Advertising
The world’s largest media buyer, GroupM, originally predicted a growth of 7% in UK advertising spent throughout 2017. Upon completion of a further analysis of post-Brexit consumer behaviour including the uncertainty from the snap general election, they reduced their prediction to 4.1%. Interestingly enough, GroupM has forecasted TV ad budgets to decline by 3% as Gen Z are shunning traditional TV platforms and switching to streaming services which give them more tailored experiences. One of the most popular trends expecting an exponential growth is Mobile with Zenith’s Advertising Expenditure Forecast predicting mobile-ad spend to overtake desktop for the first time. So how will these predictions impact our Brexit? The uncertainty on the outcome of the post-Brexit trade, finance negotiations and the change in consumer behaviour may damage consumer confidence with the fear of spending amongst the majority of advertisers. With reductions in offline and TV ads will potentially coincide with increased opportunities for innovation in the high target digital space. Therefore it is difficult to predict the outcome of advertising post-Brexit.
Overcoming the Negative Pull of Brexit
For many, the unfortunate realisation is the fact that we will be leaving the EU and we have little control over the process and outcome of Brexit. Therefore, it is about making the suitable changes to adapt to this new wave of difficulties and opportunities. Brexit may very well shake the industry with its fluidity in budgets and the evolving of strategies, however, take the positive from the negative and embrace the opportunities for experimentation and learning. It will give a chance for brands to reconnect with their customers. For more information on the impact of Brexit on services, businesses and public spending, have a look into impactbrexit. A wide variety of videos, presentations and forthcoming seminars are available to keep you informed of any Brexit developments.