Advertising and Marketing | UK Regulatory Outlook March 2025

ASA research into what makes certain personalities appealing to young people

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has published research from last year looking at the media habits of a "digital-first" generation, young people aged 11-17 years, and the ways they discover and engage with personalities or characters they like or admire online.

The research explores the drivers of appeal to young people, finding that personalities with attributes such as being hard-working, authentic and having admirable values came out as consistent features. However, there were many others.

The research also found that ads featuring "personalities", for example celebrities, tend to grab the most attention from young people.

Overall, while understanding why certain personalities hold strong appeal for young people is complex, some clear patterns did emerge.

The ASA will use these insights to strengthen the way it applies the Advertising Codes, particularly the rules that gambling ads must not have a "strong appeal" to under-18s. Advertisers should therefore consider these findings when featuring personalities in their ads.

IAB UK's report predicting media, marketing and consumer attitudes in 2030

IAB UK's Futurescape interactive report explores the trends, attitudes and media shifts shaping the advertising sector in the lead up to 2030 and beyond. Key growth areas in digital advertising include video display, gaming, digital retail media and generative artificial intelligence. The report's predictions include:

• Changes in traditional targeting due to shifting demographics and societal values.
• Rising consumer interest in healthy tech habits, sustainability awareness and wearable tech.
• AI transforming how consumers discover brands and products and fundamentally changing the media and advertising landscape so that brand marketing becomes more important.
• The TV advertising landscape changing, as streaming becomes more popular and linear TV viewing declines.
• Publishers and broadcasters collaborating with retail media platforms to offer end-to-end advertising solutions, marking the end of traditional media advertising channels so that "all media becomes retail media."
• Online content becoming the dominant force, as lines blur between mediums and channels and publishers and broadcasters adopt a multi-platform approach, with creators, whether human or AI, becoming a "dominant media channel" competing with traditional media.
• A "people-first" approach becoming more embedded, focusing on building meaningful relationships with consumers over product-centric messaging.
• Gaming becoming more appealing and accessible, especially for Gen Alpha, akin to social media for Gen Z.

Each chapter provides recommendations for advertisers, media owners, platforms, and brand marketers on how to "future-proof for 2030" and adapt to the evolving landscape.

New consumer enforcement regime: CMA sets out its initial plans for enforcement

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