A tribute to Her Majesty

We are deeply saddened by the news of Queen Elizabeth II passing at the age of 96- Britain's longest reigning monarch. Our deepest sympathies are with the Royal Family, and those affected on this very tough day for the United Kingdom.

Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom from 6 February 1952 until her death on 8 September 2022. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch and the second-longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country.

Britain has known no other monarch for 70 years, and it is expected that this will be a very sombre, if not surreal period. But with that, comes the question of what happens to the advertising industry when our longest and beloved reigning monarch passes?

Industry executives spent Thursday afternoon (8 September) re-arranging schedules and media plans, ahead of the formal announcement of her passing at 6.30pm.

Many media owners from ITV to Ocean Outdoor said they have suspended some or all advertising temporarily. Channel 4 has also confirmed that “all advertising and sponsorship has been temporarily suspended on Channel 4 and All 4” while Bauer Media, one of the UK’s biggest commercial radio networks, said it will suspend regular programming and introduce an obituary schedule. For a time, all commercial messaging including airtime, sponsorships and promotions will be suspended.

Social platforms are also putting in place a moratorium on advertising, with Twitter understood to be turning off ads in the UK for 48 hours.

The Daily Mail is among publishers pausing advertising on its website, with its news coverage overwhelmingly dominated by the reaction to the monarch’s passing.

Clear Channel, one of the biggest out-of-home networks in the UK, has also suspended all ads on its digital displays. “As a sign of respect for the passing of Her Majesty The Queen, all Clear Channel UK digital displays will be blacked out until 6am on Saturday,” it said.

Fellow OOH network JCDecaux said it will not post any new advertising and will pause all commercial advertising on its digital screens for 24 hours. All of its digital screens will show a tribute to the Queen .It will also pause commercial digital advertising on the day of the state funeral and will be blanking all posters along the funeral route.

The Queen’s passing was confirmed by the Palace at 6.30pm on Thursday September 8. Coverage of the monarch’s deteriorating health dominated news outlets in the hours preceding the announcement, while behind the scenes publishers and platforms got to work putting in place guidance for their advertisers.

Many of those advertisers are now moving to postpone the roll-out of campaigns scheduled to break this week. Moonpig, for example, was prepared to launch the next phase of a major marketing push on Friday September 9 but has now opted to delay until further notice.

We will continue to update this story as we learn more from media owners.

Industry executives do not expect a return of all advertising until after the funeral, (the date of which is yet to be announced.)