The 'Marketscan Analysis of Change in British Business Stock' report looked at change in the advertising and promotions sector from 2002 to 2003. Although the across-the-country marketing industry experienced a decline of just over half a percentage point, other areas in the country witnessed significant growth.
The North East region including North Humberside (+9.7%), Tyne & Wear (+10.9%), South Yorkshire (+5.35%) and County Durham (+4.9%) all exhibited thriving marketing industries, underlying the increasing importance of Leeds and Sheffield as business hubs.
Manchester further emerged as a rival to London as magnet for the creative industries, with a 3.35% increase in the number of companies trading. Conversely London experienced a sharp decline of 4%.
Marc Stares, director of Marketscan, said: "Excessively high commercial rents and cut-throat competition are starting to push the capital's media industry towards saturation point.
"This 'over-heating' of our capital and to an extent second city is prompting media start-up businesses to establish themselves in lower-cost rural areas, attracted by a higher quality of life and encouraged by the positive economic growth in Britain's regional cities."
The report draws on Marketscan's 2m-strong database of the UK's business population and examined change between 2002 and 2003.
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