Claimant lawyers are spending £208,000 a day on marketing as the battle to raise their profile intensifies.

Research from marketing collective First4Lawyers found advertising spend has increased sharply since fees were cut in 2013 and has amounted to £267m in total over the last five years.

Law firms and claims management companies spent £27m in 2010, a figure which increased to £76m in 2014. Average spend per business rose from £128,117 in 2010 to £315,810 last year.

In each year since 2010, the top 10 spending organisations have accounted for 85% of marketing outlay.

First4Lawyers said the cost of becoming a top 10 advertiser will top £1m during 2015.

The fastest-growing marketing channel is the internet, which now accounts for around 47% of expenditure. This figure includes Google pay-per-click, YouTube advertising and on-demand TV.

Regular TV advertising accounted for 45% of spending across the five-year period, but of the 30 firms and companies advertising through this medium in 2010, half have stopped. The majority of the £120m spent since 2010 was shared between 14 major advertisers.

Research was based on spend by firm on TV, radio and press advertising, as well as online spend extrapolated from Google. Figures are for media spend and exclude the cost of creative, services and other agency work.

Telephone interviews were conducted with leaders at 50 firms, including five of the largest practices.