UK Creator Revenue to Pass £1bn as CMOs Vanish From FTSE 100 Boards
UK creator revenue is forecast to pass £1bn in 2026, no CMOs sit on FTSE 100 boards, Gucci tops YouGov's recommend ranking, and regional salaries jump 40% outside London.
Updated
The brief
- UK creator revenue is set to exceed £1bn for the first time in 2026, rising 26% to £1.22bn, after reaching £966m in 2025 (up 20.1% from £804m in 2024), per IAB UK.
- No FTSE 100 company has a marketing director or CMO on its main board, down from 14% in 2007, though 70% retain 'meaningful' marketing expertise at board level.
- 60% of senior marketing leaders say finance cut or significantly reduced their brand investment budget in the last two years, despite 94% of finance leaders agreeing brand-building drives commercial success, per Tracksuit.
Five new datasets published this week chart the state of UK marketing: a milestone for creator partnerships, the disappearance of CMOs from FTSE 100 boardrooms, the brands consumers recommend most, persistent budget tensions between marketing and finance, and a sharp regional divide in senior salaries.
UK creator revenue set to surpass £1bn for the first time
UK creator revenue will exceed £1bn for the first time in 2026, rising 26% to £1.22bn, according to new research from IAB UK. The forecast builds on growth of 20% in 2025.
IAB UK published the first-ever study measuring the UK creator partnerships market with the Institute for Advertising and Media Statistics (IRM). It finds creator partnerships rank among the fastest-growing areas of UK digital advertising.
In 2025, creator partnership revenues reached £966m, up 20.1% from £804m in 2024. That growth rate was more than double the 9.6% recorded for digital advertising investment excluding creator partnerships.
Creator partnerships added an estimated £966m to the UK digital advertising market in 2025, equivalent to around 2.4% of the official £40.5bn ad spend figure.
Source: IAB UK
No CMOs on the main board of any FTSE 100 company
Across the UK's top 100 publicly listed companies, no marketing directors or CMOs sit on the main board. That marks a drop from 2007, when 14% of companies had marketing representation at the top table, according to new research from agency The Marketing Directors.
The findings draw comparison with a 2007 study by Professor Malcolm McDonald and Cranfield School of Management, which identified 14 board-level marketing officers.
Marketing leadership persists in other forms. The majority of companies (70%) have what the study calls "meaningful" marketing, customer and brand expertise within their boards. Around 10% of FTSE 100 chief executives have a background in marketing or customer leadership, including Tesco CEO Ken Murphy, previously chief commercial officer at Walgreen Boots Alliance.
Source: The Marketing Directors
Gucci named UK's most recommended brand
Gucci is the UK's most recommended brand, according to a new YouGov report. The label scores 90% on YouGov's 'positive recommend' metric among current customers, alongside exceptionally high scores for quality (92.6%) and satisfaction (93%). The recommend metric asks consumers whether they would recommend a brand to a friend or colleague, or tell them to avoid it.
MoneySavingExpert takes second place with a score of 87.6%. Customers cited its comparison and switching tools, its in-depth financial education, and the trust generated by founder Martin Lewis. British Airways ranks third, with its position driven by the flight experience and the reputation of its parent airline.
Entertainment and travel brands dominate the rest of the top ten: the British Film Institute (fourth), Minecraft (fifth), Final Fantasy (sixth), John Lewis (seventh), Jet2holidays (eighth), Grand Theft Auto (ninth) and Assassin's Creed (tenth).
Travel also features strongly among the most improved brands. ScotRail tops that ranking, lifting its score by 8.6 points from 41.8% to 50.4% over the last year. The improvement follows the scrapping of peak ticket pricing in September 2025, which streamlined fares and cut selected ticket costs by nearly 50%.
Source: YouGov
Finance believes in brand, but budget cuts continue
Marketing and finance leaders broadly agree on the value of brand-building. Some 94% of finance leaders and 97% of marketing leaders say it is a meaningful driver of commercial success, according to research from Tracksuit.
That belief shows up in budgets. Around four-fifths of both groups (83% of marketing leaders and 80% of finance leaders) report an increase in brand investment over the last twelve months. Six in 10 marketing and finance managers say they hold regular conversations about the strategic importance of brand.
Yet cuts persist. Almost two-thirds (60%) of senior marketing leaders say finance has cut or significantly reduced their brand investment budget in the last two years, with 35% saying this has happened more than once.
Marketing leaders cite competing priorities from other budget areas (39%), an overemphasis on short-term activation (22%), and difficulty demonstrating ROI to finance or leadership (18%) as the main factors behind the reductions.
Source: Tracksuit
Senior salaries climb 40% outside London as capital flatlines
Salaries for 'head of' roles in the North and Midlands have risen 40% year-on-year, while equivalent London roles have remained flat, according to recruitment business Michael Page's 2027 Salary Guide.
Head of social, media and content roles have increased by 19% in the last year, the report finds. Creative director salaries have grown 40% outside London.
The guide also points to a restless workforce. The majority of UK marketers (60%) are actively looking for their next role, compared with a national average of 50%. Just over half (52%) say they are satisfied with their current role.
Source: Michael Page
Based on Marketing Week
Filed under iab-uk, creator-economy, ftse-100, brand-investment, uk-marketing
Tom Whitfield
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Staff writer covering consumer brands and retail at Marketing Herald.
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