Dr Jake Monk Kydd discusses the impact and alternatives for the advertising industry. 

September 1955 and Anthony Eden had just replaced Winston Churchill as Prime Minister. Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita was first published, the first European Cup match (later renamed the UEFA Champions League) was played, and screen icon James Dean died tragically young in a road traffic collision. That month also saw the launch of the UK’s first commercial television channel in the shape of ITV. This not only ended the BBC’s long-held broadcast monopoly but heralded the start of televised advertisements being broadcast to the nation, an event that was to ever change television, consumption patterns, and even the national dialogue.

The 1950s was a time of just two UK television channels. Plenty of advertising was available in ways we would recognise now with promotions on buses, billboards, cinemas, sports grounds, newspapers, and the like. At this time television advertising in the UK was untested and potentially an expensive gamble.

A constant feature of advertising is impact and the return for the promoter on the choice of advertising investment. The perennial dilemma for those making these choices is the comment attributed to department store manager John Wanamaker, who stated, “I know half of my marketing budget is wasted, the trouble is I don’t know which half”.

While advertising impact is carefully tracked and monitored, there remains an element of risk, which can be seen with television advertising in particular, and not just with the seemingly endless choice of channels. The last ten years have seen television viewing habits change significantly, and this is reflected with the declining appeal it holds for advertisers. In 1980 the population of the UK was around 55 million people, it is currently in the region of 66 million. With the lower head count popular television shows would see viewing figures regular in the region of 20 million plus, including of course popular soap dramas such as Coronation Street. In September 2025 this mainstay of ITV was attracting an audience of less than four million viewers with viewing figures of over even ten million a distant memory.

The decline in viewers makes television less attractive to advertisers, and with it the revenue needed to produce new content, thereby potentially making television even less attractive. In part, this is due to the rise in alternatives. It is often assumed that it is only younger viewers who aren’t switched on by and switching on the television. Many of the younger generation are now more likely watching YouTube and getting their news and entertainment from social media. Many older viewers though, according to Ofcom, are being lost to subscription services offered by Disney, Paramount, Amazon, and Netflix. With product placement, the endless choice of podcasts, gaming, and online alternatives, television advertising looks more of a gamble now than it did in 1955.

In case you wondered the first television advert was for Gibb’s SR Toothpaste. The toothpaste is now branded as Mentadent SR, the SR being for sodium ricinoleate in case you wondered. I feel obliged to mention that other brands are available, although how they are now advertised will vary enormously from what was seen in 1955.

Dr Jake Monk Kydd is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the School of Business, Law, and Policing.