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May 12, 2014updated 22 Sep 2016 2:28pm

The Top 10 UK media IT spenders

Exclusive: From a total of £1.9bn which firm is spending £389m?

By Amy-Jo Crowley

Figures from research firm Kable exclusively shared with CBR, predict the total IT budgets for UK media firms for 2014. From the headline figures, we’ve chosen the top five investment categories. These range from hardware, software and consulting to internal development and maintenance as well as IT services.

1. WPP – £389.3m

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Sir Martin Sorrell, founder of WPP. Photo credit: World Economic Forum, Wikipedia.

WPP ranks number one in IT spending with a predicted budget of £389.3m for 2014.
£68m is expected to be spent on hardware, £65m on software, £49m on IT services, £36m on consulting and £41m on communications.

The London based public relations and advertising firm WPP was founded in 1971 by Sir Martin Sorrell. It employs 175,000 people and generated £11bn in revenues for the year ending in December 2013, a 6.2% growth from a year earlier.

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2. British Sky Broadcasting Group – £314m

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Sky Studios wind turbine. Photo source: BSkyB.

The company’s IT budget is coming in at £314m, of which £78m would be spent on internal development and maintenance, £53m on hardware, £48m on software, £26m on consulting and £40m on IT services.

BSkyB is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telecoms provider for over 11 million homes in the UK. Founded in 1990, the company is based in London and employs 24,000 people worldwide. Revenues ending July 2013 were up 7% to £7.2bn, driven by growth in subscriber figures.

 

 

3. Reed Elsevier – £290m

The company is looking to spend £290m on IT this year, £49m of which would be spent on hardware, £72m on internal development and maintenance, £44m on software and £38m on IT services.

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The Anglo-Dutch publishing company is co-headquartered in London and Amsterdam and employs 28,000 people.
Reed Elsevier, which owns the Lexis Nexis database and publishes medical and scientific journals. It posted a 2% growth in revenue to £6bn.

 

4. Pearson – £231m

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The FT’s London Office. Photo source: Financial Times, Wikipedia

The company’s IT budget is expected to hit £231m this year, of which £58m would be allocated to internal development and maintenance, £39m to hardware, £36m to software and £30m to IT services.

Pearson is the world’s largest education company by revenues and owner of the Financial Times and Penguin Random House. The company has over 40,000 staff members and last year posted a 2% growth in revenues to £2.8bn.

 

 

5. BBC – £204m

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BBC Scotland building. Photo source: Batchelor, Wikipedia.

BBC collected £5.1bn in revenues in 2013 and is expected to spend a total £204m on IT. About £51m of this would be allocated to development and maintenance, £34m to hardware, £19m to consulting and £46m to other IT services.

The public broadcasting service, headquartered in London, is the world’s oldest national broadcasting organisation with approximately 23,000 staff.

6. ITV – £171m

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ITV’s Leeds studios. Photo source: Mark Morton, Wikipedia.

ITV is forecast to spend a total of £171m on IT, of which £42m would be spent on internal development and maintenance, £30m on hardware, £28m on software, £19m on communications and £21m on other IT services.

It is the largest commercial television network in the UK. The integrated broadcaster producer, which delivers content across ITV2, ITV3 and CITV. It employs 4,652 people. Revenue for 2013 was £2.4bn up 9% from 2012.

 

 

7. Smiths News – £143m

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A Smiths news distribution centre. Photo source: Smiths News.

Smiths News is planning to spend about £143m on IT this year, £35m of which would be allocated to internal development and maintenance, £25m to hardware, £23m to software, and £34m to communications and other IT services.

Smiths News, previously known as WHSmith News, is a newspaper and magazine wholesaler for 30,000 customers, including supermarkets, newsagents and retailers, across the UK. Connect Group, which owns the Swindon-based company, employs 8,000 staff and last year earned up to £1.8bn in revenues.

8. Daily Mail & General Trust – £73m

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Northcliffe House, DMGT headquarters in Kensington, London. Photo source: Alex Muller, Wikipedia.

DMGT is predicted to spend £73m on IT. £18m of which would dedicated to internal development and maintenance, £12m to hardware, £11m to software and £18m to communications and other IT services.

DMGT is the publisher of the Daily Mail, MailOnline and Mail on Sunday. It employs approximately 14,000 people and last year earned £1.8bn in revenues, down 8% from 2012.

 

 

 

9. United Business Media – £60m

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Ludgate House, UBM’s headquarters. Photo source: Alex Muller, Wikipedia.

The predicted IT budget for the UBM is £60m, of which £17m would be spent on internal development and maintenance, £11m on hardware, £8.8m on software, £5.9m on communications and £7m on other IT services.

UBM, headquartered in London, provides B2B communications, marketing services and data provision for the technology, healthcare, trade and transport sectors.
The FTSE 250 company employs 5,500 people, last year had revenues of £793.9m up 3.2% from 2012.

10. Mecom Group PLC – £57m

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Mecom owns Danish national daily newspaper Berlingske. Photo source: Kjøbenhavnske Danske Post-Tidender, Wikipedia.

 

It is expected to spend £16m of its £57m IT budget on internal development and management, £11m on hardware, £8m on software, £5m on communications and £11m on consulting and other IT services.

The European publisher mainly operates in the Netherlands and Denmark and employs approximately 5,740 people.

The London based company saw revenue fall 11% to €807.9m in 2013.

 

 

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