Google Display Network averages $0.90 CPC and $4.20 CPM. Pre-Roll Video is bought on CPM only, averaging $18.00. Analysis for United Kingdom in 2026.
The UK is Europe's largest digital ad market and one of the most mature globally, with roughly three-quarters of total media spend now flowing through digital channels. Google and Meta together capture more than 60% of that, but the UK has unusually strong adoption of programmatic display, connected TV (ITVX, Channel 4, Sky), and Amazon Ads relative to mainland Europe. CPMs trend 15-25% above the US in several premium categories — partly auction density, partly currency. The UK GDPR (post-Brexit) plus the ICO's increasingly assertive guidance on cookies and consent make first-party data strategy a real competitive advantage here, not an afterthought.
Display advertising across Google's network of partner sites
Video ads that play before online content
The auction, the creative, the budget floor — the three things you actually need to know before picking a platform.
GDN buys impressions across 2M+ publisher sites via a real-time auction. You can bid CPC or CPM depending on the campaign goal. CPCs are 4–7x lower than search, but conversion rates are also lower — it's a top-of-funnel channel, not a decision-point channel.
Responsive Display Ads: 15 images (1200×628 landscape, 1200×1200 square, 1200×1500 portrait), 5 logos, 5 short headlines (30ch), 5 long headlines (90ch), 5 descriptions (90ch). Google auto-assembles.
$30–75/day gets a display campaign to statistical signal, though retargeting audiences reach signal faster and are the recommended entry point for smaller budgets.
Pre-roll (the video ad before online video content, non-YouTube) is CPM-priced at $12–20, sold through DSPs against a video inventory pool separate from social. Skippable and non-skippable formats coexist; non-skippable commands a 20–30% CPM premium.
15s (most common), 6s bumper, or 30s. 1920×1080 16:9, 24 or 30fps, H.264. Captions and audio-off usability increasingly required as autoplay-muted becomes default.
$3K–5K/month for standalone pre-roll; often bundled with programmatic display or OTT in a single video-inclusive DSP buy.