Advertising Used by UK B2C Companies: Market Share (2026)

Detected Advertising usage across 5,893 of 84,728 trading UK B2C companies, with Google Ads holding the largest observed share at 73.6%.

Advertising systems are visible at 5,893 of the 84,728 trading UK B2C companies in scope, with 20 systems detected. Google Ads accounts for 73.6% of those companies, or 4,339 users, so the category is concentrated around search-led paid acquisition rather than evenly split across networks.

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A second tier sits some distance behind: Google AdSense has 9.6% share, LinkedIn Ads has 9.2%, ClickCease has 1.9%, Adverticum has 1.8%, X Ads has 1.7%, Google Publisher Tag has 1.7%, and Simpli.fi has 1.4%. The remaining 12 systems cover 367 companies between them, leaving a long tail of publisher, programmatic, paid social, and ad-verification tools.

Company size does not change the main pattern. Google Ads leads Under 10 employees with 73.4% share, 10–50 employees with 73.9%, and Over 50 employees with 74.6%, while specialist systems compete around smaller use cases rather than displacing the default option.

5,893

B2C with detected Advertising

Of 84,728 UK B2C

7%

Detection rate

2026

20

Systems detected

In this category

73.6%

Leader share

Google Ads

UK B2C Advertising market share

Other (12 systems)

Share of the 5,893 UK B2C with a detectable system. As of June 2026.

Advertising compared

SystemUK B2CShareMedian headcountLondon shareTypical profile
Google Ads4,33973.6%721.9%Small B2C advertisers, broad share
Google AdSense5679.6%622.9%Small publishers and audience monetisation
LinkedIn Ads5449.2%627.9%Small teams, London-skewed B2C
ClickCease1121.9%718.8%Small advertisers, click-protection focus
Adverticum1041.8%816.3%Slightly larger publisher-side users
X Ads1031.7%532%Very small, London-skewed advertisers
Google Publisher Tag991.7%527.3%Very small publisher-side users
Simpli.fi851.4%611.8%Small advertisers outside London
The Trade Desk851.4%724.7%Small programmatic advertising users
Amazon Advertising661.1%631.8%Small, London-skewed retail advertisers
Taboola631.1%822.2%Slightly larger native-ad users
Quantcast601%818.3%Slightly larger audience-targeting users
i-Promote550.9%77.3%Small advertisers, low London share
StackAdapt510.9%829.4%Slightly larger, London-skewed users
Magnite490.8%View these companies in Firmbase →
App Holdings460.8%View these companies in Firmbase →
Outbrain430.7%View these companies in Firmbase →
Adtrak370.6%View these companies in Firmbase →
Snap Pixel350.6%View these companies in Firmbase →
AdsWizz330.6%View these companies in Firmbase →

Systems detected below the page threshold appear with counts only; their full lists are available in the Firmbase app.

Market leader by size

The leading Advertising system shifts with company size: among UK B2C with under 10 employees, Google Ads leads at 73.4% of the 3,855 with a detectable system; among UK B2C with 10–50 employees, Google Ads leads at 73.9% of the 1,794 with a detectable system; and among UK B2C with over 50 employees, Google Ads leads at 74.6% of the 244 with a detectable system.

Under 10 employees

Google Ads

73.4% of band

Small B2C firms make up the largest visible segment, with 3,855 companies using detectable Advertising systems. Google Ads leads with 73.4% share, while publisher and paid-social systems sit in smaller niches.

10–50 employees

Google Ads

73.9% of band

Mid-sized B2C companies account for 1,794 detected users. Google Ads holds 73.9% share here, leaving Google AdSense, LinkedIn Ads, and the long tail to compete for more specific audience, publisher, or protection use cases.

Over 50 employees

Google Ads

74.6% of band

Larger B2C companies are a smaller cohort, with 244 detected users. Google Ads leads with 74.6% share, suggesting scale alone does not shift the market away from search-led advertising.

How Advertising usage is detected

Methodology

Company data

Detected companies are joined to UK Companies House records and XBRL accounts data. Revenue and headcount figures come from the most recent filed accounts; where the company has not filed, values are estimated using a model trained on filed history and peer benchmarks and are labelled as estimates.

Detection

Firmbase crawls the public website of actively-trading UK companies and fingerprints the technologies present: tracking scripts, embedded forms, chat widgets, CMS markers and similar signatures. A company is included in this list when one or more of the technology's signatures are found on its site; closely-related variants of the same product are grouped under one name. Detection covers what is visible on the public web — a company using the technology purely internally, with no website footprint, will not appear. Counts are therefore a conservative floor, not a ceiling.

Freshness

Websites are re-crawled on a rolling basis and the underlying company data is refreshed from Companies House continuously; filings appear within days of submission. The list and its statistics are regenerated when the detected cohort moves meaningfully. You can see the last-updated timestamp near the top of the page.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Firmbase is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any trademark owner.

UK B2C by Advertising

Related directories

Frequently asked questions

What is the most-used Advertising among UK B2C companies?
Google Ads is the most-detected Advertising among UK B2C companies, with 73.6% share (4,339 of 5,893 companies with a detectable system), ahead of Google AdSense (9.6%) and LinkedIn Ads (9.2%).
How many UK B2C companies have a detectable Advertising?
5,893 of 84,728 actively-trading UK B2C companies (7%) have a Advertising detectable from their public website. The remainder either run systems with no public web footprint or none at all, so detected share figures are a conservative floor.
What is a Advertising?
An Advertising system helps UK B2C companies buy, place, measure, or monetise paid media across search, social, publisher, and programmatic channels. In this market, the visible tools include ad-buying platforms, publisher ad-serving systems, native advertising networks, and click-protection services used to manage customer acquisition or ad revenue.
How is Advertising usage detected?
Firmbase crawls the public website of every actively-trading company in this scope and fingerprints the technologies present — scripts, widgets, booking and checkout flows. A company is attributed to a system when that system's signatures are found; systems with no public web footprint are not attributable, which is why every share figure on this page means share of companies with a detectable system.
Which has more UK B2C companies, Google Ads or Google AdSense?
Google Ads: 4,339 detected companies versus 567 for Google AdSense, of the 5,893 UK B2C companies with a detectable Advertising.
What is the best Advertising for UK B2C companies?
This page publishes usage patterns rather than recommendations, so there is no single “best” Advertising system implied. Google Ads leads every employee band shown: 73.4% share among Under 10 employees, 73.9% among 10–50 employees, and 74.6% among Over 50 employees; across all detected companies it accounts for 73.6% share, or 4,339 of 5,893 companies.

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