When I wrote about digital transformation last year I prefaced that blog by admitting that I am no expert in this field. I wouldn’t say that much has changed since then in that respect, other than a clearer and more pregnant realisation of just how important digital transformation is for businesses. That’s an understatement; it’s likely the only way forward. The landscape is changing and will continue to do so. It is becoming increasingly digital and those who don’t adapt to this fundamental shift will become obsolete, or irrelevant and eventually join the ranks of Blockbuster and Kodak in the annals of history as “those who weren't open to change”. Of course, disruptions in the market are only part of the issue for the downfall of giants, but a significant one.
So how do you stay relevant in an environment which continuously shifts and evolves and where disruptors are the ones fashioning the markets of tomorrow? If I had the answer to that I would be writing this blog from my own yacht moored somewhere on the French Riviera. The truth is there is no one answer. There are many paths to be followed on the journey to digital transformation, some more straightforward, some easier to trek. The topic itself is so broad, so all-encompassing, that it’s increasingly at risk of getting diluted into just another buzzword. And yet, the underlying question remains as critical as ever: will you be the next Uber or Netflix, or the next company which falls behind in the digital race?
In a bid to take steps to support our members and followers, we organised a webinar last year with the participation of a diverse roster of speakers, from tech giants discussing their take on what digital transformation is, to representatives from a leading European bank discussing how digital transformation is becoming reality in an Eastern-European market. What we saw was great interest and so this year we are taking steps to put together a valuable and concrete resource for businesses on their path to digital transformation, digital optimisation, or business transformation, no matter which term they may employ. One of the projects the IAB Europe Education and Training Committee is working on is a Digital Transformation Playbook.
The goal is to create an interactive resource which houses top-of-the-line theoretical and practical work carried out by our members on the topic of digital transformation. With a stellar roster of contributors, ranging from titans in the field to National IABs and their members, the ambitions are high. Both for those working on creating this truly invaluable resource and also for those who will ultimately use it - beyond the concrete advice, tips, tools, and platforms, presented in a variety of mediums - what will be exciting to watch is how different approaches coalesce into one general stream of insights: how to make your business more suited to today’s digital environment.
Like I said, the task is bold and broad. Its achievement rests on the contributions of those with experience, with know-how, with the deep understanding of the steps that a business needs to take not to simply adapt, but to flourish in the increasingly digitised market, be it at a business level, technological one, or company culture level; or all of them combined. If you are part of an organisation which shapes the future of tomorrow’s digital businesses or a thought leader with clear insight into the matter, get involved. If you want to learn more about digital transformation for yourself and your organisation, stay tuned. We have great things coming!
Xaxis, in association with IAB Europe, finds 60% of marketers believe there is an opportunity to increase their programmatic audio spend – but there are challenges to overcome
LONDON, 15 July 2019: Investment in programmatic audio is set to rise, with the majority (60%) of buy-side respondents looking to increase their programmatic audio spend over the next 18 months.
According to new research from Xaxis, the outcome-media company, conducted in association with IAB Europe, the full potential of audio is not being realised within Europe. Although 59% are already utilising the capabilities of programmatic audio to some extent, spend is low – over three quarters (79%) invest less than 10% of total ad spend on audio, and two-fifths (41%) allocate no budget to programmatic audio.
Surprisingly, confidence is low, with only a small proportion of buy-side marketers (15%) feeling confident in their understanding of programmatic audio. However, when speaking to the sell side, this is doubled with 30% stating confidence in programmatic audio understanding.
Despite the fact marketers are conservative in their approach to allocating significant budgets to audio, the top three drivers for investing in audio advertising are recognised as complementing the media mix (63%), reaching specific audiences (59%), and raising brand awareness (58%). The majority of respondents agreed that to reach audiences, device choice is important, with mobile ranking top (88%) followed by laptop/desktop (61%), in-car (59%) and tablet (46%).
For marketers, the key drivers for investment in programmatic audio are achieving targeting efficiencies (63%) and taking advantage of data insights (44%). However, two strong barriers to exploring audio investment are having a clear understanding of the impact of programmatic audio trading on total revenue (49%) and the availability of technology (44%).
“Programmatic audio is the future,” commented Alex McGibbon, Vice President of Client Solutions, Xaxis. “There is the potential for Europe to lead the way in cementing it as an essential component of today’s media mix. There is an obvious appetite to increase knowledge and understanding of programmatic capabilities and if addressed, the opportunity to boost programmatic audio spend over the next 18 months.”
Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist at IAB Europe, commented: “Audio’s high level of consumer engagement married with the efficiency of programmatic delivery and brand safe environments creates a highly appealing media channel for brands.”
Download the report here.
The research aimed to understand the adoption and development of programmatic audio advertising across Europe and was conducted via an online survey between April-May 2019. 499 responses were delivered from buyers and publishers – both from across 30 markets – and from stakeholders with pan-European and global remits.
About Xaxis
Xaxis is The Outcome Media Company. We combine unique brand-safe media access, unrivalled programmatic expertise, and 360-degree data with proprietary artificial intelligence to help global brands achieve the outcomes they value from their digital media investments. Xaxis offers managed programmatic services in 47 markets, including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.
For more information, visit www.xaxis.com
About IAB Europe:
IAB Europe is the European-level association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem. Through its membership of National IABs and media, technology and marketing companies, its mission is to lead political representation and promote industry collaboration to deliver frameworks, standards and industry programmes that enable business to thrive in the European market.
For more information, visit www.stg-iabeurope-iabeuropeold.kinsta.cloud
Media contact:
charlotte.green@teamgingermay.com
+44 (0)203 642 1124
The Xaxis (in association with IAB Europe) Programmatic Audio Advertising Report highlights that the future of programmatic audio advertising looks bright across Europe. Publisher/Media Owners expressed that they want to enhance their offer, improve user experience and increase advertising revenue.
The study asked respondents about advertising in radio, podcast and streamed environments, drivers and barriers to programmatic audio investment, stakeholder knowledge of programmatic audio and the metrics used to evaluate programmatic audio campaigns.
John Wittesaele, EMEA President at Xaxis, says: “We’re buoyed by the confidence that buy-side stakeholders will very likely plan to increase programmatic audio spend in the near future, although there is work to be done to educate.”
IAB Europe’s Chief Economist, Daniel Knapp, agrees that “Programmatic audio is still at a nascent stage but growing quickly. Innovative European companies, both those with a history in radio and online streaming, are helping to drive growth.”
Download the full report below:
IAB Europe is delighted to introduce its new marketing team consisting of myself, Marie-Clare Puffett and my colleague Helen Mussard, with support from Alex Macarescu. We will be making sure that members get great visibility and output opportunities. Below, we’ve put together some key ideas and opportunities to help maximise your company’s promotion and presence in our network and the wider digital advertising and marketing ecosystem.
Share your news, outputs, research and events via our communication channels
Participate in our industry led outputs for extra visibility and thought-leadership opportunities. Some of the outputs planned for H2 2019 are:
If you’d like to get involved in any of the above or would like to set up a call to see how we can help you, please contact - Helen Mussard, Marketing & Business Strategy Director (mussard@iabeurope.eu) and Marie-Clare Puffett, Marketing & Business Programmes Manager (puffett@iabeurope.eu).
In this blog series, IAB Europe’s Brand Advertising Committee and its members explore key perspectives and the latest developments in the drive for a viewable, quality digital advertising environment.
Nick Morley, MD EMEA, Integral Ad Science
In 2018 European ad spend for mobile surpassed TV. According to the IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark study, 48.9% of digital advertising spend was invested in mobile in Europe during 2018. This is the latest data highlighting a shift in industry dynamics, proving that advertisers are increasingly focusing on mobile as a channel to connect with their audience.
Overcoming industry challenges
Despite the staggering growth in mobile ad spend, mobile has fallen short of its full potential. This is due in large part to challenges in bringing verification to scale. Measurement solutions provided by verification vendors require app publishers and supply-side providers (SSPs) to integrate SDKs. However, supporting separate SDKs for each vendor can bloat app footprints, require greater resource investment to maintain, and potentially lead to poor consumer experiences. These, among other supply-side challenges, have limited the ability of advertisers to verify the quality of the in-app inventory they are investing in.
Moving to Open Measurement
In response to inherent technical and industry challenges that were preventing verification measurement for mobile in-app advertising at scale, IAS offered its own proprietary SDK to the IAB as a starting point for an industry standard solution in early 2016. IAS also brought various players together to form an industry consortium alongside Google, InMobi, MoPub, and many others. In early 2017, the IAB Tech Lab assumed governance of this consortium, renaming under the Open Measurement Working Group in early 2017. Today, IAS is the founder of the Open Measurement initiative and a founding member of the OMWG Commit Group via the IAB Tech Lab.
The key goal of OMWG was to develop and maintain a single SDK for different platforms (e.g. iOS, Android, Windows etc.) that would standardise and collect data and signals required to be measured for ad verification purpose. This SDK would provide the collected data to any participating measurement provider, allowing the publisher or Ads SDK to integrate one Ad Verification SDK and serve all Measurement Providers.
IAB Tech Lab announced the general availability of the Open Measurement SDK in April 2018.
Early adopters, including Flipboard, Google, InMobi, Pandora, and Tapjoy, have worked to integrate and test the OM SDK during the limited release period. However only once the OM SDK is fully adopted by the industry will true third-party measurement be available at scale, bringing it to parity with today's web measurement.
Mobile and beyond
By January 2019, more than 350 companies granted access to OM SDK, and IAB Tech Lab certified 20 companies and over 2 billion mobile devices to integrate with the OM SDK. This industry-wide alignment on buying and selling standards for ads measured via the OM SDK, will simplify buying and forecasting in mobile programmatic campaigns.
Just like mobile publishers back in 2016, broadcasters should look to embrace the IAB Open Measurement SDK to unlock industry standardisation and bring scalable third party measurement to OTT, the new frontier in video. Industry alignment and momentum behind the Open Measurement initiative will bring exciting opportunities and the necessary solution to any future emerging channel.
There are over 4 billion Internet users in the world[1]. That is higher than the global number of those using something as ubiquitous as a mobile phone[2]. The Internet is wide-reaching, easily-accessible and gradually woven into the very fabric of society. Its impact is significant, its perpetuity undeniable. An intrinsic part of the revolution that is the Internet, is digital advertising. It can certainly be regarded as the engine which drives the free Internet of today. It’s big business for advertisers who see impressive ROI on digital ads, it’s big business for publishers who see growth YOY, for marketeers and creatives who have shifted to this new “binary” medium, for all players involved in the digital ecosystem. It’s big business, still, for privacy-advocacy groups, associations of industry representatives, and whether immediately apparent or not, it’s big business for the end-user who is always part of an economy, one which digital advertising has a significant positive impact on[3].
This takes us to the crux of the problem: digital advertising is a vital cog in the machinery that is the Internet - it creates jobs, it boosts economies, it drives progress. In many respects it is the core of online experiences. However, this whole construction, this vast ecosystem, rests on mere individuals. Until Skynet takes over and AIs replace people, this critical dimension of today’s society rests on the shoulders of highly-skilled individuals in digital. Unfortunately, as with all good things, digital talent is in short supply. The European Commission estimates that by 2020, Europe will suffer from a shortage of around 756,000 ICT professionals[4]. What this translates into, of course, is not only digital advertising falling short of its full potential for a positive impact from a societal point of view, but from an economic standpoint as well. The UK alone is set to forfeit up to GBP 141.5 Billion by 2028 if the skill gap is not closed. For the whole of G20 countries this amount rises to a staggering US 11.5 Trillion[5]. This is made even more acute by the rate at which technology evolves, which means that becoming proficient in one area or another is a constant pursuit.
Before addressing the issue of the digital skill gap, we first need to understand where it stems from. And it is that what IAB Europe and its Education & Training Committee aim to achieve with the Human Capital in the Digital Environment survey. Targeting recruiters, trainers, managers, and those looking to start or transition into a job in digital, the survey asks questions to dig down and root out the key causes of the shortage of digital talent: Is it a matter of an educational system that is not aligned with the demands of today's job market? Are the candidates misjudging their own abilities? Are employers not willing to meet the expectations of those seeking a job in digital?
So whether you’re in HR, training, involved in the hiring of new talent or are potentially looking for a new career path in the exciting field of digital advertising, donate no more than 10 minutes of your time and take the survey. Its findings will be decanted into a report that will be published in September and shared with all participants.
Of course, this is merely the first step in addressing a critical issue for the industry which often times is only challenged declaratively - with not much being done about it - so if you want to get involved and kept up to date with the work of our Education & Training Committee please contact me.
[1] As of 31 March 2019: https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
[2] As of April 2019, the total number of unique mobile users was 4 Billion: https://www.statista.com/topics/779/mobile-internet/
[3] IAB Europe infographic: Digital Advertising Supports Europe’s Economy: https://iabeurope.eu/research-thought-leadership/iab-europe-infographic/
[4] https://ec.europa.eu/epale/fr/content/e-skills-and-jobs-digital-age
[5] https://www.consultancy.uk/news/18895/digital-skills-gap-could-cost-uk-1415-billion-in-gdp-growth
IAB Europe is delighted to launch its new Economic Trends Forum. Led by Dr. Daniel Knapp, IAB Europe’s Chief Economist and supported by the Marketing team, this new forum will offer market analysis and industry insights for IAB Europe’s corporate members and network of National IABs. Every 8 weeks, a webinar or face to face event will be hosted. Free for members to attend, each forum will focus on a different industry topic with a detailed analysis of the marketplace. A member Q&A will be a part of all sessions to surely generate some lively debate and discussions. IAB Europe’s Economic Trends Forum will also be producing some great written content which will be hosted on our website.
In addition, Tier 1 IAB Europe members will be able to access exclusive free analyst hours. With direct access to IAB Europe’s Chief Economist, Tier 1 companies can gain market insights and trends focused to their business needs. For more information, please contact the marketing team – Helen Mussard (mussard@iabeurope.eu) and Marie-Clare Puffett (puffett@iabeurope.eu)
The first Economic Trends Forum will be a webinar on 25th July at 15.00 CEST / 14.00 BST. The focus of the first Forum will be the size, growth and spending dynamics across the region, drawing on insights from IAB Europe's flasgship AdEx Benchmark study.
Register here for the first Economic Trends Forum webinar on 25th July. In order to register, members can contact the IAB Europe team for the event registration password
A schedule of upcoming events will be available on the IAB Europe website in the coming weeks.
IAB Europe is delighted to launch its new Economic Trends Forum.
Led by Dr. Daniel Knapp, IAB Europe’s Chief Economist and supported by the Marketing team, this new forum will offer market analysis and industry insights for IAB Europe’s corporate members and network of National IABs. Every 8 weeks, a webinar or face to face event will be hosted. Free for members to attend, each forum will focus on a different industry topic with a detailed analysis of the marketplace. A member Q&A will be a part of all sessions to surely generate some lively debate and discussions. IAB Europe’s Economic Trends Forum will also be producing some great written content which will be hosted on our website.
In addition, Tier 1 IAB Europe members will be able to access exclusive free analyst hours. With direct access to IAB Europe’s Chief Economist, Tier 1 companies can gain market insights and trends focused to their business needs. For more information, please contact the marketing team – Helen Mussard (mussard@iabeurope.eu) and Marie-Clare Puffett (puffett@iabeurope.eu).
The first Economic Trends Forum will be a webinar on 25th July at 15.00 CEST / 14.00 BST. The focus of the first Forum will be the size, growth and spending dynamics across the region, drawing on insights from IAB Europe's flagship AdEx Benchmark study.
Register here for the first Economic Trends Forum webinar on 25th July. In order to register, members can contact the IAB Europe team for the event registration password.
A schedule of upcoming events will be available on the IAB Europe website in the coming weeks.
Author: Kristanne Roberts, Global Development Director – Digital, Kantar
Now a €7.6bn European market, digital video advertising adoption continues to grow year on year. With more formats and sites offering digital video formats than ever before, it’s an attractive channel to advertisers and their agencies.
For advertisers the formats are an effective way to drive brand equity measures such as awareness and image associations. The industry recognises the potential to deliver effective incremental reach when combined with TV advertising, according to the latest IAB Europe Attitudes to Digital Video Advertising Report.
It stands to reason then that with an increase of 35% in industry investment (2016-2017) according to the report, publishers have also stated a significant increase in their digital video inventory. With almost a third (28%) of those surveyed stating that over 81% of their advertising inventory is dedicated to digital video, compared to just 16% in 2017.
Within this inventory there has unfortunately been a shift away from consumer control, with a growing percentage of online video formats being non-skippable and 40% of publishers now indicating that over 80% of their video inventory is non-skippable.
This is the opposite of what consumers want – which is ultimately more control over the advertising they consume. In our Kantar AdReaction study we found consumers have much stronger preferences for skippable formats, or those with a co-creation element (e.g. voting options or choosing the ending) where they have more control over the content. This applies particularly when it comes to the younger Gen Z audience.
This shift to non-skippable formats could risk brands damaging their long-term brand equity, as the industry chases the short term increases in impact driven through forced consumption of ads, neglecting the potential irritation this can cause. This is a concern since videos are not always designed with the online environments in mind. Although the situation is improving, still almost 20% of advertisers admit to using repurposed TV content for mobile video, which Kantar studies have shown can damage campaign potential.
All is not lost however, as we can see there are clear benefits to online video formats in the cost-effective incremental reach they deliver, and the strong contribution to brand equity they can drive when executed well.
The key then, will be in ensuring the online video content created is engaging for audiences, and integrated well with the broader campaign.
For more info, you can read the full IAB Europe Attitudes to Digital Video Advertising Report 2018.
The fact that the technology underpinning most of digital advertising evolves at breakneck speed is not news to anyone. Heck, it’s almost a cliche. The truth is that while this enables digital advertising to grow steadily, the constant pursuit for the next best thing also has drawbacks. For one, it means that digital professionals are in a constant mad scramble to stay relevant and up to date with the latest breakthroughs. Whether it’s VR, AR, IoT, DOOH, Connected TV, or a slew of other acronyms, the challenge is now to identify which technology will surpass the buzzword status to become “the programmatic” of a decade from now. A more thorny problem is then to find the resources that would enable one to get a better understanding of these technologies.
When we set out at IAB Europe to draft a white paper on blockchain, the main drive was the tremendous appetite in the digital advertising industry for resources and understanding on the topic. We have the companies, we have the experts, why not?! So we reached out to IAB Europe member companies who are at the cutting edge of technology to help us create a resource that paints blockchain in its true colours: its benefits as well as its drawbacks. Organisations such as GroupM, eBay, Rubicon Project, FreeWheel, MetaX, Publicis, Adform and even National IABs such as IAB Italy came together to create a resource that will act as the stepping stone of work on blockchain at IAB Europe: our Blockchain Demystified white paper. Its reception was positively overwhelming. And rightly so. It’s not an ode to blockchain. It’s not an exposé on its drawbacks. It’s a resource that walks the fine line between identifying the inherent advantages presented by blockchain, alongside its current limitations and drawbacks.
The fact remains that blockchain technology, with all its shortcomings, could potentially provide the answer to some of the most pressing issues of digital advertising today: transparency and trust. And so we are now following up the publication of the white paper with an extra step to deliver insight into blockchain and its applicability in the digital advertising sector: a webinar.
Structured into four sections, followed by a dedicated Q&A session, this complimentary webinar aims to not only reinforce the key takeaways from the white paper, but to also give attendees a chance to get answers to their most pressing questions tied to the technology. The answers to be provided by some of the leading experts in blockchain from companies such as Anton Kopytov, Partner Technology Consulting, Mindshare Worldwide (GroupM) and Chair of the IAB Europe Research Committee, Hunter Gebron, Director of Strategic Initiatives, MetaX, Jason Manningham, General Manager, Blockgraph (part of FreeWheel), and Samuel Zwaan, EU Product Lead Programmatic Advertising, eBay, Tom Kersahw, Chief Technology Officer, Rubicon Project, and Shailley Singh, Vice President, Product Management, IAB Tech Lab. In addition to the dedicated Q&A session mentioned above, the topics that will be covered in the webinar range from an introduction into the technology, to the opportunities it offers, its limitations and the challenges it has to overcome, as well as a panel discussion on its future applications.
It’s certainly no easy feat to build a comprehensive library of resources on a topic such as blockchain, but our recent work is hopefully laying a strong foundation on which future work can be erected.
You can register and find more info on the speakers for the upcoming webinar here. The Blockchain Demystified white paper can be accessed here.
For more information on how to get involved with IAB Europe’s Education & Training Committee and its initiatives, please feel free to contact me.
A perpetual student of the human mind, passionate marketer, full-time entrepreneur, that's Ionuț R. Munteanu. Licensed in Psychology and Sociology with extensive marketing experience, he
has helped over 500+ businesses and coached young professionals guiding them in digital marketing.
Through online programs and speaking on stages, Ionuț has reached thousands. He totaled almost 20 000 hours of strategy, analytics and optimization work in his professional life.
Ionuț is the founding Partner of WebDigital, first specialized PPC Marketing Agency in Romania, founded around 2009, managing advertising portfolios for almost 100 active accounts across Central and Eastern Europe every month.
He also serves as Managing Partner of UpGradient, a small software company, founded in 2017, designed to automate processes and offer solutions for marketing agencies.
A complete profile of Ionuț can be downloaded below.
Authors: Anton Kopytov, Chair IAB Europe Research Committee and Partner Technology Consulting, Mindshare
Phil Sumner, Global Media Insight Director, Teads
State of Play
For decades, marketers have used traditional channels such as print, radio, TV and outdoor to reach consumers. It’s an accepted fact that digital has disrupted this approach and whilst marketing has become more measurable, the question of what to measure has become increasingly complex. Furthermore, the rapid pace of change has given rise to myriad interpretations and explanations of similar concepts which in turn has resulted in hugely fragmented language in the industry. A common language would help both those on the buy and sell side of our industry to bring more clarity and comprehension to the measurement ecosystem.
Anecdotally, feedback on this from IAB Europe members and partners is common; highlighting that a large level of confusion when buying digital media research remains a key barrier to investment. At the very minimum, this not only leads to frustration and inefficiency but also to research that doesn’t answer the business question it was intended to address. The IAB Europe Digital Brand Advertising and Measurement report quantifies what we know intuitively and highlights just how much further we have to go. Undertaken in 2018, the research established that over 8/10 industry professionals believed that agreed metrics and KPIs would drive more brand investment in our industry. There is a clear consensus that lack of alignment stymies growth.
It is no secret that media planning, execution and measurement continues to become more complex and efforts to ensure consumer privacy increase that complexity.
Our members have also given us considerable feedback that the digital measurement industry is hard to navigate, overly-complex and rife with company-specific acronyms and terminology that turns buyers off. This ultimately leads to lower investment in quality measurement taking place and this can only be a bad thing for the credibility of our industry and the wider goal of facilitating the realignment of media spend from traditional channels.
IAB Europe’s new Effectiveness Measurement Framework initiative aims to provide clarity and transparency on the digital advertising measurement landscape. The objective is to enhance industry understanding of the research methodologies and products available, but critically, a first step is to examine the language used across the industry and to demystify so that buyers (our members) can make informed decisions when spending their precious research budgets.
They Survey and Key findings
The IAB Europe Effectiveness Measurement survey is the largest regional study of this kind. The majority of both the major global digital measurement companies as well as many of the boutique agencies offering measurement services were included in our sample. The results were instantly stark indicating little to no commonality. Whilst similar terms arise, they are often used to describe different types of outcomes. Encouragingly, there is evidence that brands are adopting the language and framework used by the research agencies. This will help drive some commonality but the research paints a messy, complex and incoherent ecosystem that is difficult for even the most initiated buyers to navigate. Some of the key findings include:
Conclusions and Next Steps
From the analysis of survey results we see the following challenges or gaps in effectiveness measurement:
As a next step, in order to bring more clarity and transparency to the measurement landscape, IAB Europe will work with its Effectiveness Measurement Task Force to develop a ‘measurement supplier map’ which will aim to:
Methodology and Participants
Get involved
Find out more information about the phases and objectives of IAB Europe’s Effectiveness Measurement Framework Project here.
If you are an IAB Europe member and would like to get involved in the Effectiveness Measurement Task Force, email Marie-Clare Puffett, Marketing & Business Programmes Manager – puffett@iabeurope.eu
