what it costs

TV advertising cost

Small advertisers buy TV every year, and the route you choose sets the minimum.

UK TV advertising costs about £7.23 to reach 1,000 adults with a 30-second ad, on Thinkbox's 2025 average, and 223 advertisers spent less than £10,000 on TV that year. A realistic first step for a startup is a £3,000 to £5,000 regional or addressable burst, such as Sky AdSmart, which Sky sells from £3,000. National airtime has no published rate card: it is priced as a discount off each station's average price, so a national campaign starts with a quote. AdBuyMCP does not buy broadcast inventory today. It plans addressable TV and CTV lines inside a seven-channel plan and writes the Sky AdSmart booking brief, and Sky makes the booking.
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A short application: five questions, no card. Approved accounts get the whole loop in their own sandbox, up to a monthly cap. Live spend is open to paid design partners.

By James Rooney Updated

Thinkbox average, 30 seconds
£7.23 per 1,000
Our fee on the lines we plan
10%
Sky AdSmart from
£3,000
Above £25,000 a month
5% + £749
stageDesign-partner phase

how this is planned

AdBuyMCP plans addressable TV from one audience, and scores how much of it carried over.

Read the channel page

the figures

How much does TV advertising cost in the UK?

Every figure carries its source and the date it was checked. Where a seller publishes no price, the table says so.

What it measuresFigureSource
Typical priceLinear TV, national average£7.23 per thousand adult impacts for a 30-second ad (2025)Thinkbox, TV advertising is for everyoneIndustry body, updated 16 June 2026, checked 24 September 2026
Small advertisersTV advertisers by annual spend, 2025223 spent under £10,000 and 114 under £5,000Thinkbox, TV is unbeatable valueIndustry body, 11 June 2026, checked 24 September 2026
Market sizeUK TV advertising, 2025£5,216m, down 1.2%; forecast to grow 3.7% in 2026Advertising Association and WARC, Expenditure ReportIndustry body, 30 April 2026, checked 24 September 2026
Market minimumLinear TV, national and regionalNot published; priced as a discount off each station's average priceThinkbox, cost of TV advertisingIndustry body, updated 28 July 2026, checked 24 September 2026
Market minimumSTV self-service, ScotlandNot shown; the price is calculated in the booking formSTV Commercial, self serviceSeller's own page, checked 24 September 2026
Market minimumUniversal Ads (Channel 4, ITV and Sky inventory)£0Universal Ads UKSeller's own page, checked 24 September 2026
Market minimumSky AdSmartFrom £3,000; paid only for ads watched at least 75% throughAdSmart from Sky, affordable and accountableSeller's own page, checked 24 September 2026
Typical CPMSky AdSmart£30 to £60 or moreOne Day Agency, Sky AdSmart advertising costsAgency blog, updated 20 August 2026, checked 24 September 2026
Typical CPMBroadcaster streaming (ITVX, Channel 4 Streaming, My5)Not published; sold at a fixed price per impressionThinkbox, buying BVODIndustry body, updated 11 June 2024, checked 24 September 2026
Typical CPMNetflix, UK£34 to £35 with volume commitments, £45 to £50 without (2024)VideoWeek, Netflix CPMs are coming downTrade press, 28 August 2024, checked 24 September 2026
ClearanceClearcast, standardFree for an ad up to five minutes long; allow two to three weeksClearcast, clearance FAQClearance body, checked 24 September 2026
ClearanceClearcast, Fast Track£660 plus VAT, feedback within 24 hours; two-hour final approval £1,320 plus VATClearcast, Fast TrackRate card, checked 24 September 2026
Realistic startA regional or addressable burst£3,000 to £5,000 over two to four weeksOur planning estimate
Our plan floorAddressable TV line£1,000 per lineProduct fact
Our plan floorCTV line£140 per weekProduct fact

Checked against their sources on 24 September 2026. Rates move, so check the date before you lean on one.

How is TV airtime priced?

Linear airtime is priced against a station average price, which Thinkbox defines as a station's total revenue divided by its total viewing. Buyers pay a percentage discount off it, and the discount is where the negotiation happens: agencies pool their clients' money into one deal, and a brand can promise a broadcaster a share of its annual spend in return for a lower price. Thinkbox's own illustration is 30% of a brand's spend for a price 10% below the station average.

Price then moves with the audience you trade on, the region and the season. London is the most expensive region, January is the cheapest month and September to November the dearest. A 30-second ad is the base, a 60-second ad costs twice as much, and shorter ads carry a slight premium.

Broadcaster streaming is sold on impressions at a fixed price, and linear TV on impacts, so a streaming CPM and Thinkbox's £7.23 measure different things. At Thinkbox's average, a million adult impacts cost about £7,230.

Do small companies advertise on TV?

Every year. Thinkbox counts 598 advertisers that spent less than £50,000 on TV in 2025, more than 400 under £25,000, 223 under £10,000 and 114 under £5,000, and 984 advertisers were new to TV that year. Online businesses spent £774m on TV in 2025.

ITV Media says half its advertisers are small businesses running regional ads, and offers new advertisers a discount on a first campaign without publishing the figure. STV sells its Scottish regions through a self-service calculator with one-week, ten-day and two-week TV runs and two, four and six-week runs on STV Player. Neither publishes a minimum.

Can you buy TV advertising self-serve?

Yes. Universal Ads launched in the UK on 23 June 2026 with Channel 4, ITV and Sky and publishes a £0 minimum, and STV sells its Scottish regions through a self-service calculator. Sky AdSmart starts from £3,000, charges only for an ad watched at least 75% of the way through, and is booked through Sky.

All three are market data on this page. AdBuyMCP does not buy STV, ITV, Sky or Channel 4 inventory today, and its Universal Ads connector is a stub waiting on a partner approval that does not exist yet.

What does AdBuyMCP do for TV today?

AdBuyMCP does not buy broadcast inventory today. It plans two TV lines inside a seven-channel plan: addressable TV, with a floor of £1,000 a line, and CTV, from £140 a week. For Sky AdSmart it writes the booking brief with the household attributes and runs the clearance step, and Sky makes the booking and reports the delivery. Live spend is open to paid design partners.

what first-time buyers miss

Clearance sets the start date. Clearcast asks for two to three weeks, so a TV launch is planned backwards from the script.

costs beyond the media

What else will you pay beyond the airtime?

  • Clearance

    Clearcast clears broadcast copy, and standard clearance is free for an ad up to five minutes long on the channels it clears for. Allow two to three weeks. Fast Track costs £660 plus VAT, and a two-hour final approval costs £1,320 plus VAT per submission.

  • Late bookings

    ITV Media says it is "stopping charges for bookings after the AB day, up to the month your ads air" for 2025 to 2027. Other broadcasters set their own terms, and none publishes a national rate card.

  • What we charge on the lines we plan

    10% of media, or 5% plus £749 a month above £25,000 of trailing 30-day spend.

live spend and your budget

Live spend is open to paid design partners. The market figures above are other sellers’ prices, and nothing on this page funds a campaign. The loop that builds a plan runs in the sandbox, which opens to an approved application and takes no card. How the design-partner engagement works.

the lines we plan

What do the plan lines beside this market cost?

All seven channels a plan can carry are priced on what UK media costs.

Where the market figures come from

Checked against their sources on 24 September 2026. Rates move, so check the date before you lean on one.

book a working session

Bring one audience and a real budget, and we'll cost seven channels.

Bring a real brief to a 45-minute session and we’ll plan it live. We plan it in the sandbox against the published floors, and the lines the budget cannot carry are dropped in front of you.

Start now Book a working session

A five-question application, no card.

Bring a real brief to a 45-minute session and we’ll plan it live.

Questions about TV cost

How much does a TV ad cost in the UK?

On Thinkbox's 2025 average, £7.23 per thousand adult impacts for a 30-second ad, which is 0.72p per adult. What you pay depends on the audience, the region, the season and the discount negotiated off the station average price, and no broadcaster publishes a national rate card. Small budgets are common: 223 advertisers spent under £10,000 on TV in 2025.

What is the cheapest way to get on TV in the UK?

The self-serve and addressable routes. Universal Ads publishes a £0 minimum across Channel 4, ITV and Sky inventory, Sky AdSmart starts from £3,000 and charges only for ads watched at least 75% through, and STV sells its Scottish regions through a self-service calculator. AdBuyMCP does not buy any of these today.

How long does Clearcast clearance take, and what does it cost?

Standard clearance is free for an ad up to five minutes long on the channels Clearcast clears for, and Clearcast asks you to allow two to three weeks. Fast Track costs £660 plus VAT and guarantees feedback within 24 hours, and a two-hour final approval costs £1,320 plus VAT per submission.

Can I buy TV through AdBuyMCP?

Not broadcast airtime: AdBuyMCP does not buy ITV, Sky or Channel 4 inventory today. It plans addressable TV and CTV lines, writes the Sky AdSmart booking brief and runs the clearance step, and Sky makes the booking. Live spend is open to paid design partners.