Last week, some media reports suggested that the system used by hundreds of thousands of website and app publishers to ensure transparency and consent around online advertising was found in breach of GDPR by the Belgian Data Protection Authority. There are inaccuracies in many of the early reports and IAB Europe refutes these as well as many of the preliminary findings of the Inspection Service of the Belgian DPA.
At issue is the Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF), which provides essential guidance for entities involved in digital advertising, to assist them in compliance with the GDPR. Managed by IAB Europe, the TCF was developed through a process which took three years and involved almost 100 organisations, multiple iterations and two major revisions. More information is available here.
The Inspection Service of Belgium’s Data Protection Authority recently contacted IAB Europe with a report that made a number of allegations about the Transparency and Consent Framework and about IAB Europe’s role in relation to it. IAB Europe will be providing a full written response to the report in due course.
Following presentation of IAB Europe’s written statement, and potentially statements from complainants, the Inspection Service will present its findings to the Litigation Chamber, an administrative court still within the Belgian Data Protection Authority. IAB Europe will also have recourse to appeal in the Belgian Courts.
Please see below a media release issued by IAB Europe on 29 October.
Brussels, 29th October: IAB Europe refutes criticisms of Transparency and Consent Framework
Commenting on recent media coverage of the Belgian Data Protection Authority’s report into IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework, Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe, said:
“It is surprising and disappointing to see the degree to which the initial media coverage of this got the contents of the report completely wrong. The report does not constitute an indictment of the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF). Its findings in relation to the Transparency and Consent Framework reflect a basic misunderstanding of how it works, and as a consequence are either not relevant or highly subjective.
For example, the finding that the Transparency and Consent Framework needs rules on the processing of special category data is incompatible with the fact that you cannot use the Framework to process such data. Similarly, IAB Europe is not indifferent to non-compliant behaviour. TCF Policies contain explicit requirements for participants to notify IAB Europe where they identify a breach and to cease working with non-compliant parties.
Generally, IAB Europe strives to ensure full compliance with TCF Policies and the best practices set out therein, but in no way purports to take on the responsibility of enforcing the GDPR, a responsibility which falls on those authorities specifically designated for that purpose by the regulation.
Commenting on the characterisation of IAB Europe as a ‘data controller’ under the terms of the GDPR, Feehan said:
The real story in the report is the novel and unsubstantiated finding that an industry association that operates a standard intended to help its members comply with the law can be considered to be a data controller, thereby sharing legal liability with every company that implements the standard. This interpretation, if upheld, would eliminate at a stroke the possibility for any industry to develop a GDPR Code of Conduct, since such codes inevitably need a host organisation, and no non-profit organisation would ever contemplate taking on such risk.
The report’s impact on the Framework is negligible. Its impact on IAB Europe as an organisation, and on any other standards body operating in Belgium, is potentially detrimental, though it is unclear what consumer protection, if any, is advanced by this.
In conclusion, Feehan stated:
“The Transparency and Consent Framework is the most sophisticated and scrutinised model of GDPR compliance for digital advertising in the world. This preliminary report is only the first stage of the Belgian Data Protection Agency’s review and it has no impact on the operation of the Framework.
We pride ourselves on collaboration with all stakeholders and look forward to engaging with the Belgian authority on this matter, just as we have already engaged with several Data Protection Authorities in the development of the latest version of the Framework.
We take issue with many of the claims in the report but it is worth emphasising that we are only at an early stage. We will be making a robust defence of the Framework and the hundreds of thousands of website and app publishers and advertisers who rely on it every day to guide their operations.”
Press contacts:
Tune into IAB Europe’s Digital Audio Day Wrap-up - Watch the full video recording here.
We completed our first ever Digital Audio Day event on 22nd Oct. And what a day it was!
Bringing together the shapers, creators, and noisemakers of digital audio advertising, this event uncovered everything we wanted to know about the emerging digital channel that has captured the attention of consumers and brands alike. Featuring a series of in-depth panel discussions, keynote presentations, and fascinating fireside chats from IAB Europe member companies, we really did unlock the real potential that Digital Audio has to offer. This is why we have put this post together. So you can find an overview of each of the sessions covered, as well as video recordings for you to view in your own time.
Tune in, and enjoy!
Keynote presentation - Deep Dive into Digital Audio
Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist, IAB Europe
In the first session of the day, Daniel gave an overview of the audio market and showcased the potential for Digital Audio in Europe. He looked at its evolution from traditional radio, and how the impact of the pandemic has, in fact, facilitated its long-term growth. But whilst there is a key opportunity here, there are also limitations that we, as an industry, need to overcome if we want to unlock its full potential. Especially when it comes to programmatic.
Watch the session recording here.
Panel 1: The Digital Audio Landscape
Digital audio is earmarked as a key driver for future digital investment. As such, our first panel of the day explored what the landscape in Europe looks like and how we can tap into the opportunity available. Our experts highlighted exactly what digital audio means, the key challenges and opportunities for buyers and publishers, and whether or not there is more hype than scale, to manage advertisers’ demand.
Clementina Piazza, Automation Lead UK, Spotify moderated the panel and was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Key takeaways:
Keynote presentation - The Audio Opportunity for Publishers
Chiara Ferraris - Go to Market EMEA, Google
“Audio ads can drive 24% higher ad recall (on average) than display ads”
In this keynote presentation, Chiara explored the audio potential for all publishers. She revealed how to monetize digital audio ads and how different types of audio inventory can unlock new possibilities for publishers.
Watch the session recording here.
Fireside chat: The Future of Audio is Now
Rak Patel - Regional Head of Sales UK and Pan-EMEA, Spotify & Amy Butterworth, Media Manager, Tesco
In this fireside chat, we got the low down on audio from a brand’s perspective. Tapping into Tesco, Rak invited Amy to share her thoughts and experiences on how the evolution of audio has impacted the brand’s use of the channel. She discussed the value it brings in terms of context, what Tesco looks for in an audio partner and what most excites her about the future of audio.
Watch the session recording here.
Key Takeaways
Panel 2: The Future of Audio - Innovations & Creativity
In our final panel of the day, our audio experts discussed why creativity is so important in the digital landscape. They discussed how advertisers can utilise audio in their creatives, why programmatic is so vital to the channel, and what the biggest innovations in digital audio are, that we can expect to come.
Rob Timony, Business Director, AudioXi moderated the panel and was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Key Takeaways:
Keynote presentation - IAB Tech Lab Audio Initiatives
Mike Midden - Director Product Management, Ad Experiences, IAB Tech Lab
In our final presentation of the day, Mike talked us through the IAB Tech Lab’s podcast technical working group. He discussed the measurement guidelines the group has in place and the most recent updates that have been made to the framework, which will be released in the next few days. He also delved into the IAB Tech Lab’s goal to provide further consistency when it comes to audio measurement.
Watch the session recording here.
Thank you to all our speakers and to those that have contributed to our Digital Audio Guide. This will be released very soon, so please do keep your eyes (and ears) out for that.
*Mic drop*
Welcome to the latest 'Policy Update' blog post from Townsend Feehan, CEO, IAB Europe. This week Townsend discusses the Digital Service Act - avoiding the risk of a broken promise.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) has been promised as a landmark legislative package for the EU. While embarking on a challenge of updating rules governing technology companies in the internet era, we must not lose sight of the fact that data-driven businesses are already subject to the world-class standards of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Introduction of any superfluous rules will only lead to confusion and create legal uncertainty. For some sectors, such as digital advertising, it might well mean nothing else than falling into decay, eventually putting the EU media at the risk of perishing.
Unwarranted claims blinding our vision
The European Parliament has set out its position on aspects of the DSA through a number of recently published reports. Among many other issues, they examine online advertising and personalisation, something that we at IAB Europe are looking at with particular interest. Unfortunately, the approach to targeted advertising in JURI and IMCO reports comes across as short sighted, ill-considered and in some places, uninformed. Targeted advertising is portrayed as a practice that takes advantage of blindsided users and offers them little in return. This is a reactive opinion that fails to take account of the wider applications of targeted advertising, and even more importantly, of the existing EU privacy and data protection framework that is binding on any data-driven business, which in fact is all digital advertising these days.
Tackling ‘GAFAMs’, used to describe the Big Tech, is always a palatable political ambition and digital advertising is overwhelmingly understood as a core business of theirs. For many, it is tempting to think that banning targeted advertising will hit them where it hurts and leave others relatively unscathed, but such reasoning is misguided since any bid to outlaw personalised ads will disproportionately impact the revenue of smaller players on the market.
The stability of the European media in peril
Digital advertising significantly benefits the vast majority of news publishers across the EU who, at this very moment are struggling more than ever due to the substantial drops in advertising revenues of their print editions.
The media and publishing sector had already been facing a massive challenge in maintaining revenues due to losses in advertising and declining readership. According to a report commissioned by French publishers, the sector is losing somewhere in the range of €250 million to €320 million per year due to the migration of advertising revenue away from traditional published outlets in France alone. In this context, we must not forget that advertising accounts for over 81% of European newspapers and magazines digital revenues, and over 90% of the digitally native publishers.
With the Covid-19 crisis, even more pressure has been placed on publishers as they face a fundamentally altered business environment. The media will be adversely impacted by the downturn where ad investment is expected to at least fall by €45 billion worldwide, and surely no party in the ecosystem can consider themselves shielded. This is not merely an unsustainable situation. It is an existential crisis that could lead to the destruction of vast sections of the publishing sector. Publishers’ revenues are fragile and cannot withstand any further shocks to the system. As the current crisis has shown, it is a sector that is needed now more than ever as citizens look for information from trusted sources.
If the most efficient – hence valuable – form of digital advertising were to be prohibited, publishers and content creators would have to increase the number of less relevant ads served to each consumer to achieve the same revenue. Regardless, the restrictions would lead to fewer available services, less unpaid quality content and services, and more paywalls. Polarisation would be rampant in our democratic society if information were only available to those who are affluent enough to pay for access to it, with inevitable decrease of the media pluralism making European citizens more dependent on state-controlled media.
More broadly, digital advertising benefits European SMEs - be it companies that advertise their products or the (hundreds of) thousands of app developers or European online platforms. These segments of the economy will also be critical for Europe's post-Covid-19 recovery and access to as many digital tools as possible will be key to their success.
EU joining forces with the well-meaning actors
Instead of rewriting the recently adopted rules pertaining to data-driven businesses, we urge EU policymakers and regulators to work in tandem with the industry, taking stock of the existing industry legal compliance standards, such as IAB Europe’s Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF). These tools can be used as enablers of effective enforcement. The TCF - the de facto standard for GDPR compliance - enables and empowers users to choose how and by whom their personal data is allowed to be used to provide relevant advertising and content. Where consumers have meaningful choices that are respected, individual users may continue to decide for themselves which online services they pay for with money and which they pay for with attention, knowing that in either case, their rights and interests are fully protected. We know that European online users are happy for their data to be used for targeted advertising in order to get access to free content supported by advertising, and 83% would prefer free sites with ads to paying for ad-free content.
The applicability of EU privacy and data protection rules to data-driven businesses, together with the existence of solid cross-industry compliance standards such as the TCF make the adoption of new rules with similar objectives redundant and would place a disproportionate regulatory compliance burden on organizations that are often at the centre of EU-based innovation. Ultimately, any move to change the regulation of targeted advertising will need careful consideration to ensure that the sectors it should help, like publishers and SMEs, will benefit.
IAB Europe has been informed by the Belgian data protection authority, the APD, that it has completed an investigation into IAB Europe’s privacy and data protection practices in connection with its role as Managing Organisation of the Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF). The APD’s report represents the preliminary views of the APD’s investigations unit and has no binding effect with regard to any breach of the law by IAB Europe.
While IAB Europe is currently assessing the APD’s report, we note that the findings point to a number of alleged compliance issues that stem solely from IAB Europe’s role as Managing Organisation of the Framework. We respectfully disagree with the APD's apparent interpretation of the law, pursuant to which IAB Europe is a data controller in the context of publishers' implementation of the TCF. If upheld, the APD’s interpretation would have a chilling effect on the development of open-source compliance standards that serve to support industry players and protect consumers.
The TCF is a voluntary standard whose purpose is precisely to assist companies from the digital advertising ecosystem in their compliance efforts with EU data protection law. It contains a minimal set of best practices seeking to ensure that when personal data is processed, users are provided with adequate transparency and choice. Its policies do not assist or seek to assist the processing of special categories of data. It does not intend to replace legal obligations nor enable practices prohibited under the law.
We find it regrettable that a standard whose requirements reflect an interpretation of the law that errs on the side of consumer protection and aligns with multiple DPA guidance materials across the EU (CNIL, DPC, ICO, etc.), should be the focus of an enforcement action, rather than an opportunity for a constructive, good-faith dialogue on how the TCF can be improved in ways that better align with the APD's vision and with consumer and industry needs.
Over the past three years we have had the chance to present the TCF to a number of European DPAs, whose feedback we reflected in important changes in the V2 of the Framework, rolled out earlier this year. We will be fully engaging with the APD over the coming months as its services conduct evaluations on the merits of the report. We will also continue to work with regulators and seek their guidance on how the TCF can promote compliance with both the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive.
For more information, please contact:
Townsend Feehan, CEO, IAB Europe (feehan@iabeurope.eu)
Helen Mussard, Marketing & Industry Strategy Director, IAB Europe (mussard@iabeurope.eu)
On the 15th August, The Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) v1.1 was depleted and replaced by TCF v2.0.
So far over 600 vendors have registered to implement TCF v2.0! This includes many of the largest vendors and CMPs in programmatic advertising, including Adobe, Axel Springer, Criteo, Google, GroupM, Integral Ad Science, MediaMath, Oracle, OneTrust, The Ozone Project, The Rubicon Project, The Trade Desk, Quantcast, and Xandr, amongst many others. The full list of companies currently registered for TCF v2.0 can be found here.
So What Is TCF v2.0 And How Can You Get Ready?
What Support And Guidance Materials Are Available?
To support vendors, publishers and CMPs implementing TCF v2.0, we have prepared marketing materials and collaterals to provide a clear overview of the framework, its mechanism, and what it entails for all stakeholders involved. From videos to handy guides, you will find everything you need below to get more familiar with TCF v2.0 and its latest updates. You can access all materials here.
Top Materials We Recommend:
Next Steps
Visit https://iabeurope.eu/join-the-tcf/
On 6th October 2020, IAB Europe hosted its first Virtual CTV Event.
Following the release of our Buyer’s Guide to CTV, the event was created to further explore this emerging digital advertising channel, and with 350 attendees was a huge success. Featuring a series of panel discussions and market deep dives from IAB Europe and IAB Europe member companies, the event uncovered the real challenges faced by the ecosystem, and the key opportunities available for CTV. A big thank you to our partners Magnite and OneTrust for helping to make this event possible!
In this post, you will find an overview of each of the sessions covered, as well as video recordings for you to view in your own time. Enjoy!
Watch the full event recording here.
Opening Keynote: Making a Market: The CTV Advertising Opportunity in Europe
Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist, IAB Europe
“The potential for a mass market is here, but it’s up to us as an industry to make this happen”
The first session of the event gave an overview of the potential available for CTV advertising in Europe.
It explored how the European TV market, consumer trends, and the impact of the global pandemic have shifted advertising towards a digital-first world, creating a significant opportunity for CTV. We know from our latest programmatic advertising research that CTV is a main area of growth - 70% of advertisers and 61% of agencies think CTV will be one of the key programmatic growth areas over the next 12 months. But there are still barriers that we, as an industry, need to overcome in order to unlock its full potential. This session highlighted just that.
Find out more. Watch the session recording here
Panel 1: The Connected TV Landscape and the Opportunity in Europe
The first panel session of the event addressed the fragmented landscape of CTV trading. Turning to our panel of industry experts it explored the key challenges that both buyers and publishers face in greater depth and highlighted the main areas of opportunity available for CTV in Europe.
Louise Dixon, Strategic Partner Lead, Google moderated the panel and was joined by:
Jenny Antoniou - Account Director Seller, CTV, EMEA, Magnite
Chris Edwards - Director, Business Development, EMEA, Rakuten Advertising
Jaden Grant - Solutions Consultant, IPONWEB
Graeme Lynch - VP Demand, EMEA, SpotX
Emma Newman - Chief Revenue Office, EMEA, Pubmatic
Watch the session recording here
Key takeaways:
Audience poll:
We ran an audience poll at the end of the panel to ask what the main barrier to CTV becoming mainstream was. The majority of the audience felt a fragmented market was the biggest restriction to success (36%). Whilst two-quarters of the audience felt it was hard to measure (26%) and that there wasn’t enough scale (26%). 13% saw targeting restrictions as the biggest barrier.
Panel 2: Connected TV in Practice - Viewership and Scale
The second panel session of the event took us back to basics to discuss CTV in practice. Focusing on viewership and scale, the panel discussed how to reach a large audience, and how to know you are reaching the right audience.
Stephane Bismuth, Co-Founder, Viznet.TV moderated the panel and was joined by:
Martin O’Boyle, Managing Director Partnerships, Publicis Media
Austin Scott, head of Video Market Development, EMEA, Xandr
Julie Selman, Senior Director and Head of Demand Strategy UK and Northern Europe, Freewheel
Watch the session recording here
Key takeaways:
Panel 3: Connected TV in Practice - Targeting and Measurement
The third panel session of the event unpacked some of the challenges and solutions to CTV targeting and measurement. It’s not possible to just copy digital tactics and apply them to CTV, so our panel of measurement experts shared their guidance and best practices on CTV measurement and campaign performance.
Noemi Mckee, VP Client Success, Mediamath moderated this panel and was joined by:
Sarah Cannerday, Senior Business Development Director, Integral Ad Science
George Head, Head of Sellside Client Development, EMEA, Oracle
Carol Hinnaut, Chief Revenue Officer, Comscore
John Ross, Associate Director of CTV Products, DoubleVerify
Kristanne Roberts, Global Development Directore, Kantar Insights Division
Watch the panel session here
Key takeaways:
Audience Poll
We ran a poll at the end of the panel to ask what metric was most used to measure CTV campaign effectiveness. Reach saw the largest response from our audience as the most-used metric (41%).
Panel 4: Privacy Focused Connected TV
The final panel of the day turned to our privacy experts who discussed the latest regulatory changes and how they apply to CTV. They looked at what the demise of the third-party cookie means for CTV and how the Transparency and Consent Framework works for the CTV industry.
Ninon Vagner, Pricacy and Compliance Manager, IAB Europe moderated the panel and was joined by:
Aruna Sharma, Group-VP, Lead Counsel Global Privacy & Tech, DPO, Xandr
Alex Cone, Senior Director, Product Management, IAB TechLab
Zachary Faruque, Marketing Solutions Engineer, OneTrust Preference Choice
James Prudhomme, Executive VP International, Index Exchange
Watch the panel session here
Key takeaways:
Victoria Chappell, VP of Marketing EMEA at IAS shares her insights on how advertisers can navigate the new normal with the upcoming festivities and holiday season.
The holiday buying season is already upon us, with only 12 weeks till Christmas. With the coronavirus pandemic creating huge shifts in consumer behaviour, brands and retailers are having to rethink how they will approach this year’s shopping period.
To help advertisers understand how to navigate the new normal, IAS not only delved into its vast retail data to identify trends in viewability and ad fraud levels during the holiday season but also surveyed consumers across Europe to understand changes in their shopping preferences and the perception of digital advertising for this “unprecedented” year. Our study surveyed 526 internet users from Germany, France, and the UK and here are the top insights to inform your digital marketing strategy:
Seasonal spending has already started
Consumers are already seeking out the perfect gifts. Promotions and discounts generated by Black Friday and Cyber Monday might make November a popular month for purchasing gifts, but it’s important to note that for six out of 10 consumers they start their festive shopping before November. Therefore, there is ample opportunity for advertisers to capture consumer spend ahead of the peak season. Additionally, advertisers that implement digital campaigns earlier, will be able to take advantage of fewer supply constraints alongside less competition.
High-ticket items are removed from the gift list
Given the financially strained climate, it is encouraging that 72% of European consumers plan to maintain or increase their festive budget this season. Only 9% of consumers said that they would significantly decrease their spend. As Europe heads into recession, consumers are looking to deprioritise high-ticket items on the gift lis. For 2020, the most popular gift purchases by European consumers will be books and music (50%), apparel (43%), and health and beauty (41%).
The holidays have gone digital and local
Given that Europe had already experienced a significant increase in online shopping as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, this holiday season will greatly surpass what has gone before. Digital shopping will be exaggerated as consumers stay away from bricks and mortar stores due to concerns around COVID-19, as 80% of European consumers remain concerned about buying in-store. In 2020, the holidays go digital as 75% of consumers say they will do their festive shopping online. Even though the majority of consumers will purchase their gifts from large e-commerce websites, they also are pushing to support local businesses with one-third of UK consumers planning to purchase from local, independent businesses.
Holiday shoppers are more receptive to relevant online ads
As consumers increasingly look to digital channels for their shopping needs, they're also seeking convenience. When holiday shopping, consumers seek out digital ads to provide suggestions on gift ideas or highlight promotions. With 6 in every 10 consumers agreeing that online ads are important to their gift search and over two-thirds of consumers see online advertising as a helpful way to discover new promotions and products online. Additionally, almost two-fifths of European consumers stated that digital ads that were contextually relevant to the content they were browsing were most helpful in their gift search.
With the acceleration of digital shopping, a global pandemic and economic uncertainty, this holiday season is shaping up to be like no other. Today’s consumers are relying heavily on online shopping which makes digital advertising even more important to consumers looking to hunt bargains and find the perfect gift. With the abundance of channels and buying options available, advertisers must ensure that consumers can easily find the ideal products and promotions they're looking for. For advertisers who are planning their holiday campaigns, the key to connecting with holiday shoppers is to control the contextual adjacencies of their advertising, in order to maximise outcomes and bring real festive cheer.
Have you registered for IAB Europe’s Virtual CTV Event on 6th October?
Thanks to our event partners Magnite and OneTrust, it’s free to attend so reserve your place here
Following the release of IAB Europe’s Buyer’s Guide to CTV, this virtual event will be a series of panel discussions and market deep dives to explore this emerging and exciting digital advertising channel. With such a fragmented CTV landscape across Europe, this is a must-attend event to truly understand the opportunities and challenges of the ecosystem.
Agenda
We will be kicking off the event with a deep dive into the CTV market from our Chief Economist Daniel Knapp!
Panel 1- The Connected TV Landscape and Opportunity in Europe - Based on Daniel’s presentation – According to the latest IAB Europe Attitudes to Digital Video Advertising survey, addressable and connected TV are earmarked as key drivers for the future of video advertising investment. But what does the landscape look like in Europe and how can stakeholders tap into the opportunity? Join Google, Rakuten Advertising, SpotX, Magnite, IponWeb and PubMatic.
Panel 2 - Connected TV in practice – viewership and scale [panel and audience Q&A] - How can you plan and execute a CTV campaign effectively that reaches the right people at scale? Who is watching CTV and how is it best to reach them? What are the challenges that have to be overcome, especially planning pan-european campaigns? This panel of CTV experts will explore all of these questions and more! Join them to truly learn how to scale CTV across Europe. Join Viznet, Publicis Media, Xandr and FreeWheel.
Panel 3 - Connected TV in practice – targeting and measurement - The CTV Landscape is a fragmented one. Hence measuring and tracking data can be somewhat problematic. So how do you accurately measure CTV ads in terms of effectiveness? What are the key metrics that should be used? This panel of measurement experts will share their guidance and best practice on CTV measurement and campaign performance. Join MediaMath, IAS, Oracle, DoubleVerify, ComScore and Kantar.
Panel 4 - Privacy focused CTV (GDPR / TCF / Post Third Party Cookie Solutions - How do you balance opportunity and responsibility in CTV? This panel of privacy experts will discuss the latest regulatory changes and how they apply to CTV. They will look at what the demise of the third-party cookie will mean for CTV and how the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) works for the CTV industry. Join IAB Europe, IAB Tech Lab, OneTrust and Index Exchange.
As always, this is a live event! So join hundreds of industry peers from across Europe to connect on CTV!
Programmatic Advertising Revenue grew by 23% in 2019 to €23bn.
Attitudes to Programmatic Study 2020 Reveals ‘Better Use of Data’ Was The Number One Driver For Programmatic Investment.
Brussels, 2nd October: IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem, today announced the launch of its annual ‘Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising 2020’ report, alongside its Programmatic Advertising Spend in Europe Research for 2019.
Now in its sixth year, the study has become an industry benchmark to show how programmatic advertising attitudes, adoption and strategies are evolving. The responses came from advertisers, agencies, publishers and ad tech vendors in 31 markets with respondents having both pan-European and Global remits. More than half of the respondents manage annual advertising budgets of €1m or above.
The latest research from the Programmatic Advertising Spend Research reveals that programmatic revenue grew by 23% in 2019, topping €23bn, with 77% of display and more than 50% of video now traded via programmatic methods.
Commenting on the double-digit growth seen in the 2019 report, Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist at IAB Europe said “Programmatic is on the path to become the default infrastructure for digital advertising. Our newly consolidated 2019 figures across European markets showed continued double-digit growth in programmatic despite increased market maturity. This growth is visible in all markets - from established programmatic pioneer markets like the UK and France to CEE markets which benefit from a second mover advantage to ramp up programmatic spend particularly quickly. This growth is underpinned by continuing efforts to streamline the programmatic supply chain and the expansion of programmatic into premium environments such as video.”
The 2020 IAB Europe Attitudes to Programmatic study highlighted the following:
Looking at the barriers to programmatic adoption, supply chain transparency ranks as the primary concern for advertisers. With advertisers reporting the need for greater control of inventory and at a lower cost, they are demanding transparency and clarity around technology fees from their partners. To alleviate cost concerns, nearly two thirds of ad tech vendors report making investments to offer a fully transparent business model.
Meanwhile, advertisers and publishers cited brand safety was significantly less of a ‘barrier’ to programmatic investment in 2020. It dropped from 34% in 2019 to 10% in 2020 for advertisers and from 27% in 2019 to just 9% in 2020 for publishers. This could indicate industry advancements in these areas but also the acknowledgement that fraud protection and brand safe environment are not unique, but rather industry standards for programmatic partners to deliver and guarantee.
As far as growth areas are concerned, one clear winner stood out across all others: Connected Television (CTV). Whilst the report showed that current investment in CTV remains low with 60% of agencies and advertisers saying they were investing less than 20% of their overall programmatic budgets, growth was cited for 2021. 70% of advertisers and 61% of agencies think CTV will be one of the key programmatic growth areas over the next 12 months. Publishers are divided between audio (46%) and CTV (46%) and 40% of advertisers also believe audio will drive growth. Almost a third of agencies also believe DOOH will drive growth.
2020 has certainly brought new challenges to the digital advertising industry but a surprising silver lining has been the resilience the programmatic landscape has demonstrated.
Commenting on the release of today’s report, David Goddard, Senior Business Development Business Solutions EMEA, DoubleVerify & Chair of IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee said “The annual Attitudes to programmatic report truly is a finger on the pulse of the European digital market. Each year the survey draws out the key concerns and opportunities that impact all of digital marketing. It enables the committee and the wider industry to devise new and amend current strategies to tackle key issues or take advantage of opportunities for the next year to come.”
The full reports can be viewed and downloaded below:
For more information, please contact:
Helen Mussard, IAB Europe (mussard@iabeurope.eu / +44 7399 919 594)
