On September 28, IAB Europe hosted the headline event of our Trust and Transparency series 'The Great Debate'.
The event was created to round up our exclusive September event series by discussing and debating all things trust and transparency in digital advertising.
Featuring a series of panel discussions, IAB Europe and IAB Europe member companies shared best practices and current initiatives and did a deep dive into the latest policy and legal regulations to drive trust and transparency in our industry. They shared their views on what’s being done and what else needs to be done.
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.
Watch the full event recording here.
Panel 1: Tackling Disinformation in the Industry
IAB Europe’s Chief Economist, Daniel Knapp, lead the conversation on what disinformation is, how it is grown, and what can be done by the industry to curb the spread. He was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Panel 2: Tackling Brand Safety and Suitability for Emerging Channels – Gaming, CTV, and Audio
Following on from IAB Europe’s work around educating stakeholders on best practices for brand safety and suitability in emerging channels, this panel delved deeper with practical case studies and examples of what can be done to keep brands relevant and safe.
This panel was moderated by Tina Lakhani, Head of AdTech, IAB UK, who was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Panel 3: Understanding the Digital Services Act (DSA)
A panel of industry association leaders from advertising and beyond discussed the latest status of the DSA, detailing what it means to them and the stakeholders they represent, including start-ups, SMEs, and Entrepreneurs.
This panel was moderated by Townsend Feehan, CEO, IAB Europe, who was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Panel 4: Supply Chain Transparency
If the digital advertising industry is to increase investment from the buy-side and to continue to benefit consumers through personal, timely, and relevant content, then maintaining transparency is critical. This panel discussed the latest initiatives to help maintain such transparency.
This panel was moderated by Daniel Knapp, Cheif Economist, IAB Europe who was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Keynote: New Standards
Presentation by IAB Europe’s Technical Director, Alexandre Nderagakura, and Pierre Gauthier (IAB France Executive Committee member and Commercial Director at Channel Factory) on new standards to drive trust and transparency in our industry including the SCID initiative.
Watch the session recording here.
Throughout September, IAB Europe has been hosting a series of virtual events, podcasts and blogs to discuss and debate trust and transparency in the Digital Advertising industry. This week we are delighted to hand over the blog to our network partners IAB Tech Lab!
Jill Wittkopp, Director of Product at IAB Tech Lab and Tina Lakhani, Product Marketing Consultant for IAB Tech Lab discuss how IAB Tech Lab have been focused on improving transparency across the supply chain with their newly launched Transparency centre.
Digital advertising is a fast, innovative, and vibrant industry that provides advertisers with opportunities and capabilities beyond any other media channel. Thousands of companies in our industry work together every day to deliver ads that help sustain the free and open internet that we have all come to rely on for journalism, information and entertainment.
However, such growth, interest, and volume of participation in our industry comes with challenges. IABs around the world and IAB Tech Lab since 2017 have been working with the digital advertising community to develop standards, initiatives and best practices that build interoperability, efficiency and trust within our ecosystem. However, over the years it has become increasingly apparent that despite these efforts it is still difficult to differentiate between good and bad actors within our supply chains.
This problem exists because while there are standards and best practices in place, digital trading makes it difficult for buyers, sellers, and ad tech vendors alike to know which standards or compliance programs their partners are adhering to. This is because, until recently, such data has either not been publicly available, had been fragmented, and in most cases had not been machine readable.
To address this challenge, in August 2021, IAB Tech Lab announced the launch of a new initiative called the Transparency Center. The Transparency Center acts as a single source of truth about all participants in the digital advertising industry and is a shared industry resource that enables participants to gain transparency into the standards and compliance programs their media partners are operating within.
This is an initiative that will evolve and grow as the industry develops and in its initial release the Transparency Center includes the following components:
This is a key initiative for the industry as it enables buyers to mitigate the risks of working with bad actors, in turn helping to ensure they are accessing safe inventory.
For publishers and ad tech platforms, it enables them to make more informed decisions of the vendors they choose to partner with and also provides a forum to promote the initiatives and best practices they are employing themselves.
The data in the Transparency Center is free for Tech Lab members to browse and the compliance APIs are free for anyone in the industry to use. We encourage all participants of the digital advertising industry to get involved - for publishers to use services like Supply Chain Validation to verify that their sellers are representing them as expected; for buyers to ensure their technology partners ingest the data and make the relevant selections in their campaign settings to filter for vendors that adhere to standards deemed important; and for all participants in the supply chain to use this data to inform their decisions of which vendors to partner with. We encourage all participants to use the transparency center and work together to help eliminate bad actors and enhance trust in our industry.
About the authors
Jill is on the IAB Tech Lab product team focused on software services and the programmatic supply chain. Her previous experience includes 10 years working in ad technology focusing on software for marketers. This has included Rakuten Advertising’s DSP as well as self-serve display and email products at Magnetic Media acquired by Deloitte Digital.
Tina consults for IAB Tech Lab as Director of Product Marketing where she works to raise awareness, understanding and adoption of Tech Lab standards. She has 8 years of industry experience working within various ad tech companies, and most recently comes from a role as Head of Ad Tech at IAB UK where she worked with the UK Ad Tech industry at large.
28th September, 2021, Brussels, Belgium: IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising and marketing ecosystem, has today released its ‘Guide to Quality’ to help and support all stakeholders in the supply chain on being accountable and responsible for the reputation of digital advertising.
As summarised in the Guide, there are various components to quality, and the priority of these will vary depending on each stakeholder. The guide looks at what makes a quality campaign from both a brand’s and consumer’s perspective by detailing best practices and practical examples for viewability, brand safety and suitability, ad fraud, campaign creativity and privacy and consent. The guide is a call for action that Quality is something that all stakeholders have to strive for. The guide starts by defining what quality is and details how it can be achieved.
IAB Europe’s CMO Helen Mussard said “The goal of advertising is for the brand message to be viewed by a real human in an appropriate environment. If that message resonates and drives action, it's been successful for both brand and consumer. Quality media is broadly defined as the subset of inventory in which a high probability exists for advertising to be effective. The guide shows that creating standards for media quality to incorporate industry best practices and to prioritise the user experience will ultimately raise the probability for users to be engaged with ads and, therefore, drive business KPIs. We have included lots of practical examples from member organisations to show how this can be accomplished.”
The guide was written by members of IAB Europe’s Quality & Transparency Taskforce. Contributors included stakeholders from agencies, National IABs, verification companies and ad tech platforms including DoubleVerify, GroupM, IAB France, IAB Portugal, IAS, Magnite and Oracle Data Cloud.
Commenting on the importance of ensuring quality across all campaigns, one of the guide’s contributor’s Akshay Bhattacharjee, Senior Programmatic Solutions Specialist at Integral Ad Science said: We've witnessed a seismic shift in digital advertising over the past 18 months, fuelled by a global pandemic driving digital content and the impending deprecation of third-party cookies. The importance of media quality related to actionable outcomes, matters now more than ever. To that effect, the competition and demand for premium inventory is at its peak. Marketers need to continue to make a concerted effort in ensuring ads run in high quality environments to reach consumers and build better connections with them as well.
He added: IAB Europe’s Guide to Quality succinctly outlines the importance of quality, its impact on consumer receptiveness and best practices for media buyers and sellers. It works as an important guide for publishers to monetise premium inventory and advertisers to build meaningful outcomes with their target audiences. It provides a benchmark for the industry to operate upon which digital ads are viewable by real people, free from fraud, in brand safe and suitable environments, all within the targeted geo of a campaign. IAS is pleased to have contributed to IAB Europe's guide and looks forward to collaborating with industry members to further strive for quality impressions.”
The IAB Europe Guide to Quality follows IAB Europe’s dedicated work track to combat stakeholder quality and transparency concerns and address the challenges that the industry is facing in order to fuel consumer trust and brand investment in the digital advertising and marketing ecosystem. Throughout September IAB Europe has been running a series of virtual events dedicated to discussing Trust and Transparency in Digital Advertising.
The Great Debate – Trust And Transparency In Digital Advertising
Join IAB Europe today for their headline event, The Great Debate. They will address best practices, current initiatives and will deep dive into the latest policy and legal regulations to drive trust and transparency in our industry. Through a series of panel discussions, industry experts from The European Commission, GroupM, Google, Samsung, TikTok and more will share their views on what's being done and what else needs to be done.
Register to attend The Great Debate here and join the event live at 12pm CET.
Download the guide here.
As part of our Trust and Transparency event series, we are hosting a range of Industry Insider sessions with some of our members. In the series so far, we have heard best practices and advice from PubMatic, OneTrust, Sourcepoint, and Criteo.
If you missed these sessions, don’t worry as you can access them all on-demand here.
Next week we will be joined by leaders from Facebook, Google Integral Ad Science, and Xandr as they dive deeper into key areas of and best practices for trust and transparency.
Join the following events to hear the latest views from leading industry experts. All sessions are free and include an audience Q&A.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Industry Insider With Xandr: How PREX, Delta Pronatura, BurdaForward And Xandr Partnered To Find More Transparency Within The Programmatic Ecosystem!
27th September at 12.00 CET
In August 2021 Xandr partnered with PREX, Delta Pronatura, and BurdaForward to help them gain full transparency over their media investment along the supply chain. Xandr and its partners expanded the SCID (Shared Campaign Identifier) project out of France and showed that it can serve as an industry standard for transparent operations in the ecosystem.
During this session Mediaplus and Xandr will discuss the SCID solution, the opportunities it provides, and why advertisers should care about transparency.
Industry Insider with Google: Building Trust with Privacy by Design - with Google Ads & Chrome
28th September at 16:00 CET
Join this session to hear Google Ads share new research with Ipsos that asked 7,000 people about ads and privacy, and what marketers can do to adapt. Google Chrome will discuss the latest developments on Privacy Sandbox and APIs such as First Party Sets. Join to learn about steps you can take today to prepare your business for what’s to come.
Please note: This is a live event and will not be available on-demand, so be sure to secure your space today!
Industry Insider With Integral Ad Science: Mind The Gap: Addressing Programmatic Supply Chain Transparency
29th September at 12.00 CET
The meteoric growth of programmatic has captured the attention of digital power players. While supply chain optimisation can add complexity, advertisers still need to access the most relevant inventory to reach consumers. In a fragmented landscape where efficiency matters more than ever, how can partnerships make transparency a reality for programmatic buyers?
During this practical session, IAS and a panel of experts will open up an in-depth discussion about Supply Path Optimisation adoption and moving the market towards more transparency.
Industry Insider With Facebook: Driving Change Through Transparency by Facebook
30th September at 12.00 CET
During this Industry Insider webinar, Facebook leaders and subject matter experts will be discussing the company’s commitment to transparency, and why it matters for the future of the industry.
To catch up on any of the Industry Insider Trust and Transparency webinars you have missed, watch them on-demand here.
As part of our September Trust and Transparency event series, we hosted a range of Industry Insider sessions with some of our members. This is where leaders from Criteo, Facebook, Google, Integral Ad Science, OneTrust, PubMatic, Sourcepoint, and Xandr took us through a deep dive into key areas of and best practices for trust and transparency.
All of our events have been recorded and are available to access on-demand, so why not check out the sessions in your own time below:
Industry Insider with PubMatic - Rebuilding the Value Chain with Transparency at the Core
In this webinar, PubMatic examined the wider issue of transparency across the supply chain and discussed how we can continue to work together as an industry to generate progress towards achieving a better ecosystem.
Helen Mussard, Chief Marketing Officer, IAB Europe moderated the session and was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Industry Insider with OneTrust - Web, Mobile, OTT & CTV: How to Make Consent an Asset, Not a Hurdle
In this session, Casey Hill, Product Management Organisation at OneTrust shares an understanding of how to incorporate consent and privacy strategies across web, mobile, OTT, and CTV applications, and best practices to help maximise consent rates.
Watch the session recording here.
Industry Insider with Sourcepoint - Responsible Media Through the Lens of Privacy
In this session, Sourcepoint led a roundtable with leaders in responsible media from throughout the ecosystem for a discussion of privacy. They discuss questions such as – How are companies reacting to new regulatory requirements? How can the industry make these changes sustainable? How do we shift the culture to go beyond the notion of binary compliance?
This session was moderated by Justin Pearse, Editor, New Digital Age who was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Industry Insider with Criteo: The Responsible Use Of Addressable Media – Rethinking User Consent For The Open Web
In this session, together with their partners, Criteo discussed how to win users’ trust in the future of addressable media and shared some active initiatives that can make this a reality in 2022.
Speakers:
Watch the session recording here.
Industry Insider With Xandr: How PREX, Delta Pronatura, BurdaForward And Xandr Partnered To Find More Transparency Within The Programmatic Ecosystem!
During this session Mattis Koch from PREX (Mediaplus), Jan-Henrik Scharlach and Christoph Platt from Xandr discussed the SCID solution, the opportunities it provides, and why advertisers should care about transparency.
Watch the session recording here.
Industry Insider With IAS: Mind The Gap: Addressing Programmatic Supply Chain Transparency
The meteoric growth of programmatic has captured the attention of digital power players. While supply chain optimisation can add complexity, advertisers still need to access the most relevant inventory to reach consumers. In a fragmented landscape where efficiency matters more than ever, how can partnerships make transparency a reality for programmatic buyers?
During this practical session, IAS and a panel of experts had an in-depth discussion about Supply Path Optimisation adoption and moving the market towards more transparency.
Speakers:
Watch the session recording here.
Industry Insider with Facebook: Driving Change Through Transparency with Facebook
Facebook leaders and subject matter experts discuss the company’s commitment to transparency, and why it matters for the future of the industry.
The session opened with a keynote presentation from Facebook’s VP Northern Europe, Steve Hatch, who shared Facebook’s view for Trust & Transparency.
Helen Mussard, Chief Marketing Officer, IAB Europe then moderated a panel session with:
Watch the session recording here.
This week we kicked off our brand new Trust and Transparency series and what a week it has been so far!
From a 101 deep dive into data transparency that focused on how it works and who benefits from it to an exploration of the socio-economic and cultural value of targeted advertising in Europe. It's been a fantastic start to the series with lots more exciting things to come, as we discuss all things trust and transparency across the month of September.
We hope you've been able to join us but if not, fear not, as below you can find an overview of each of the sessions we've covered so far and the links to the on-demand recordings.
Data Transparency: How it Works and Who Really Benefits
To kick off IAB Europe’s series of events on Trust and Transparency, this session provided a 101 overview on how personal data should be obtained and stored in relation to European data and protection regulation. To truly understand how personalised advertising works and the benefits it brings to people and publishers, it's one not to be missed.
This session was led by Andrew Hayward-Wright, Partnerships Director, SeenThis and Programmatic Advisor for IAB Europe who was joined by:
Watch the session recording here
The Wider Socio-Economic and Culutal Value of Targeted Advertising in Europe
In this session, IAB Europe's Chief Economist, Daniel Knapp presented the key findings from our hot off the press study that systematically explores the wider socio-cultural value of targeted advertising, and how it contributes to the specific make-up of Europe’s economy. He then moderated a stimulating debate about how targeted advertising can be used for good to continue delivering value with the following experts:
Watch the session recording here
16 September 2021, Brussels, Belgium – A ban on targeted advertising would have a host of unintended consequences and hinder Europe’s efforts at creating a digital space fit for the future, finds a new report published today.
As the European Parliament prepares to consider amendments to the draft Digital Services Act, the paper, ‘The wider socio-economic and cultural value of targeted advertising in Europe’, demonstrates that a blanket ban – as proposed by some MEPs – would damage Europe’s media, SMEs, culture, and global position.
Authored by Dr. Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist for IAB Europe, the study highlights how advertising is a critical pillar of a free and open internet and that in order for online content and service providers to grow advertising revenue, targeting is essential. Over two-thirds of digital advertising revenues in Europe depend on behavioural targeting and advertisers pay on average 2.68 times more for ads targeted this way.
The report also finds that targeted advertising is increasingly important for European publishers as they transition to digital-first business models and that any ban would deepen the digital divide between European citizens who have the financial means to pay for quality news and those that don’t.
Dr. Knapp’s analysis also shows that targeted advertising is particularly important for Europe’s SMEs, many of whom were forced to shift to digital-only marketing strategies by COVID-19 restrictions, and who simply don’t have the budgets to pay for ads geared to general audiences, rather than tailored to those who are most likely to be interested in their products and services.
Business Director of Portuguese online content and services provider SAPO, Fernando Parreira said:
The recent digital boom is a strong signal that Europe’s future lies in technology and innovation. But policymakers are at a crossroads. They face a choice between creating a strong framework that allows all businesses to flourish at the forefront of digital competitiveness or seeing Europe fall behind its global competitors. Europe’s economy needs small, agile companies with access to a range of innovative tools, such as targeted advertising, to allow them to compete and help secure a prosperous digital economy.
Paweł Kopacki, a Director at Polish digital publisher Wirtualna Polska continued:
The past year has shown that digital advertising is not only vital to the European economy but has a larger social and cultural value that is often overlooked and not accounted for in conventional statistics. It supports a pluralistic media landscape, provides a critical marketing channel for SMEs, is intertwined with the promotion and protection of European culture, and provides a growth engine for European champions, allowing them to diversify their customer base through advertising.
Shedding light on the real-life importance of advertising revenues, Director of EU Policy and Head of Brussels Office of Developers Alliance, Karina Stan stated:
Targeted advertising is a critical tool for developers and startups to stand out in a highly competitive market. The potential banning of targeted advertising is another example of Brussels hobbling European innovation and putting the continent at a disadvantage in the global race to succeed in the digital economy. This is something Europe simply cannot afford and we urge policymakers in Brussels not to implement such a blunt and potentially damaging proposal.
Secretary General of the European Enterprise Alliance, Damir Filipovic added:
Targeted advertising not only supports thousands of small and medium businesses to advertise their products to new customers but plays a critical role in keeping the digital economy accessible for all. Dr Knapp’s report clearly lays out the benefits of targeted advertising, alongside the risks of a ban which would create significant obstacles to European economies struggling to recover from the pandemic.
Reflecting on the EU policymaker discussions, Tamara Daltroff, Director General of the European Association of Communications Agencies, said:
The current debate too often disregards the positive social and economic impact of targeted advertising. It is a valuable technique that is not only used by big advertisers, but also by small companies, start-ups, NGOs – and not least the free media. Personalisation that respects privacy is the key building block of any successful campaign – and the GDPR remains our guiding compass here.
IAB Europe CEO Townsend Feehan commented:
We fully support the elements in the DSA proposal that are genuinely additive and complementary to the EU’s highly restrictive privacy and data protection legal framework. These would include new mandatory information disclosures about the identity of the advertiser, who may not always be a controller for a specific instance of data processing and as a result would not need to be disclosed under the GDPR. But first and foremost, the European Parliament should look at what can be done to strengthen compliance and enforcement with existing law before laying on new proposals that overlap and have not been subject to any kind of impact assessment and, as this report shows, could have devastating consequences for a range of sectors.
IAB Europe is hosting a webinar on the 16th September at 12pm CEST where Daniel Knapp will discuss his paper and the challenges it elucidates as part of IAB Europe’s Trust and Transparency Series. It will be live-streamed at the following link and is open to all.
As part of our Trust and Transparency event series throughout September, we will be hosting a range of Industry Insider sessions with some of our members. We will be joined by leaders from Criteo, Facebook, Integral Ad Science, OneTrust, PubMatic, Sourcepoint and Xandr to dive deeper into key areas of trust and transparency.
Join the following events to hear the latest views from leading industry experts. All sessions are free and include an audience Q&A.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Industry Insider With PubMatic: Rebuilding The Value Chain With Transparency At The Core
20th September at 12.00 CET
Find out more and register here
Industry Insider With OneTrust: Web, Mobile, OTT & CTV: How to Make Consent & Privacy an Asset, Not a Hurdle
21st September at 12.00 CET
Find out more and register here
Industry Insider With Sourcepoint: Responsible Media Through The Lens Of Privacy
22nd September at 12.00 CET
Find out more and register here
Industry Insider With Criteo: The Responsible Use Of Addressable Media – Rethinking User Consent For The Open Web
23rd September at 12.00 CET
Find out more and register here
Industry Insider With Xandr: How PREX, Delta Pronatura, BurdaForward And Xandr Partnered To Find More Transparency Within The Programmatic Ecosystem!
27th September at 12.00 CET
Find out more and register here
Industry Insider with Google: Building Trust with Privacy by Design - with Google Ads & Chrome
28th September at 16:00 CET
Find out more and register here
Industry Insider With Integral Ad Science: Mind The Gap: Addressing Programmatic Supply Chain Transparency
29th September at 12.00 CET
Find out more and register here
Industry Insider With Facebook On Trust And Transparency
30th September at 12.00 CET
Find out more and register here
For more information on the Trust and Transparency event series see here.
In this week's member-guest blog post, Fiona Ellis-Smith, Associate Director, Advertiser Solutions at PubMatic shares her thoughts on the future of audience addressability for buyers.
This year has been the year that we’ve seen the digital advertising industry really take stock of the challenges that need to be addressed to create a fair value exchange and chart a way forward. Advertisers and publishers are forging deeper relationships than ever before and defining new ways to make consumers’ digital content and advertising experiences great again.
What are the biggest changes?
There is now a wide acceptance that as an industry we need to reset and rethink the consumer value exchange and remove the ‘big brother is watching you’ fear factor. Publishers are focusing on diversifying their revenue streams beyond the black and white of paywall or advertising. Through communication and collaboration, advertisers and agencies are able to leverage the opportunities that publishers having more control over their data presents for them from an audience addressability perspective.
Another big change is the realisation that in order to provide a truly valuable experience for consumers and a fair value exchange for publishers, tech companies, and advertisers, we need local data and local solutions. There’s a real opportunity for local, independent publishers, tech, and data companies to harness their expertise and compete on a level playing field with the big players. By offering advertisers with custom solutions that are built to solve for the unique characteristics, regulations, and consumers in each market, we’re taking a big step towards building an ecosystem that can leverage both the power of scale - powered by alliances - and local expertise.
Consumers have, for a long time, been vocal about what they dislike about digital advertising; however, the interpretation of this has been fragmented, extrapolated, and ultimately consumers’ concerns have not been sufficiently addressed. Today, we’re seeing the voice of the consumer being taken more seriously and solutions emerging that give consumers more choice than ever before.
Premium publishers are offering consumers multiple ways to access content, such as 100% ad funded, part ad funded, free, but only in exchange for data. We’ll see more flexible models emerge as publishers learn from these early offerings. Content that is built on consumer data works - e.g. Netflix. When advertising is involved, we need to tread more carefully as the user experience is very different compared to receiving content recommendations. By educating consumers about how the decisions to show certain ads are made and giving them the choice to change the way they access content if they’re not happy, addressable audiences will continue to grow.
What is driving the current changes?
When GDPR came into effect there was a sense in the industry that the ecosystem would change at the flick of a switch on May 25th, 2018. Today, regulations, standards, frameworks, and targeting options are evolving in a fluid manner, resulting in different strategies emerging. All of these strategies are designed to meet the same goal - make the digital advertising industry better.
There’s also a greater sense of collaboration rather than a battle for control. There is an understanding that publishers need to maintain a certain level of control to preserve their user experience and that when publishers have this control, advertisers are better able to engage consumers. This has put publishers in a position to choose who they work with and partner with tech companies that share their values and vision for the future, and support them in building the right solutions for them.
For example, platforms that enable publishers to test multiple ID solutions are in a great position to grow and shape the industry because they enable publishers to gather insights into the benefits that each solution brings. By facilitating this test and learn approach, these platforms are feeding vital, data-based knowledge into the industry, which is something that has been lacking in the past when there has been a tendency to keep learnings in siloes.
What will digital advertising look like in 2025?
2021 is the moment of change that we’ve needed for several years, and there’s no doubt that current endeavours to build post-cookie addressable audiences will cause digital advertising to look very different in 2025. Of course, no one has a crystal ball, but our predictions for the future are as follows.
Publishers and advertisers will be working together in ways that we’ve not even begun to see. There will be joint initiatives designed to inform consumers in non-tech speak about their options - not simply an opt-in to having hundreds of companies tracking them or none at all. In tandem, customer data platforms (CDPs) will evolve to provide more flexibility and be easier to interact with on an ongoing basis rather than a one off.
There will be more logged in users, and as a result, there will be more tailored content and advertising that exists in harmony with that content in a non-creepy but personalised way. This will increase consumer trust and engagement with digital advertising, and the voice of the consumer will have shifted to focus on what they like about advertising, not what they don’t like.
In the TV world, connected TV (CTV) will continue to grow, and as with digital, consumers will have the flexibility to choose how they want to pay for content - financially or with data, which will safeguard content providers’ revenue.
The digital advertising industry is closer than ever before to making advertising that works for everyone, and it’s clear for all to see that we’re on the cusp of great change. Collectively, we’re responsible for driving this change and keeping ourselves accountable. The next five years will continue to be uncertain times, but the post-cookie, consumer-friendly, addressable opportunity is closer than ever.
The Summer might be over but we have a lot of exciting opportunities at IAB Europe for you to get involved with for the rest of the year (and beyond)!
So far in 2021, our committees and task forces have produced some incredible outputs. From an updated guide on the Post Third-Party Cookie Era and a new Guide to the Programmatic CTV Opportunity in Europe to a deep dive into Brand Safety in CTV, plus over 20 virtual events. It’s been a great start to the year and there's still lots more to come.
If you’re keen to get involved, we’d love to have you join us! We have a range of committees and task forces that every IAB Europe member can join, and below, we’ve put together a summary of our committees so you have all the information you need to sign up and get involved.
Why join a Committee?
Being a part of a committee will help you to expand your knowledge and network, and provide valuable education and guidance to the wider community. You can stay up to date on the latest regulatory affairs and public policy initiatives that promote self-regulation, best practices, and industry standards. Most of our committees organise events, so you have the opportunity to become a speaker or moderator at large events, which bring together hundreds of industry peers. Finally, being a part of a committee means you can influence the work we are doing to drive forward the future of our industry.
What’s involved?
Each committee has a monthly conference call with a quarterly face-to-face meeting when we can meet again. The committee Chair and Vice-Chair lead each session and proactively involve members to get the very best from each meeting. The latest projects and outputs will be discussed so members can decide what they’d like to get involved with and work on. Most committees will focus on two to three key projects each quarter which could range from producing a white paper or discussing the latest policy situation to conducting industry research and market insights. For any output you are involved with, you and your company will be cited in the report and have the opportunity to be involved in subsequent PR or events.
What Committees can I join?
Please see below for an overview of the committees you can join. For more details on the committees with details on the Chairs, work plan, and contact details, please click here.
Ready to sign-up?
For more information and to join our committees please contact: communication@iabeurope.eu
In this week’s member-guest blog post, we welcome Alex Hole, VP Samsung Ads Europe, as he shares why the emerging audience of gamers in the UK presents a number of exciting opportunities for advertisers.
There are few things that can change our habits and behaviours like technology. Legendary American actor and director Orson Welles was asked for his thoughts on the new TV sets taking centre stage in living rooms in the late 1940s. “I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can’t stop eating peanuts.”
New advances in technology quickly morph into novel formats for media. Such advances provide fresh channels for culture and communication to proliferate. And new avenues for brands to reach consumers. The TV still takes centre stage in living rooms around the globe. But the role it plays in the lives of consumers is changing - a change accelerated by COVID-19.
The pandemic and the disruption it sparked in our lives and daily habits created a new social context, which has supercharged certain consumer habits. As the physical world shrank, the digital world expanded. The Economist described gaming as “the single biggest new media habit to be formed during the pandemic”, and suggested these habits would be “sticky” and not decline following the lifting of restrictions.
Our latest report, ‘Behind the Screens: Gaming on Samsung TVs in 2021’, reveals the extent of these blossoming consumer habits, with time spent gaming on UK Samsung TVs increasing 15% since January 2020 to the period ending June 2021.
Our data also found a 28% increase in the number of Samsung TVs with active monthly gaming activity in the UK between January and June 2021, equating to 58.81 million hours spent a month gaming on these devices.
UK gamers on Samsung TVs spend a lot of their TV time in streaming environments, with this cohort spending 28% more time streaming compared to all Samsung TVs in the UK. These gamers also spend 80% of their total TV time either gaming or in streaming environments.
These viewing habits are influenced by the console or device these audiences are using. Whilst the majority of gaming hours are spent by users on older generation consoles, UK Samsung TV users that are connected to a new console, like the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X, spend more time gaming.
These ‘next-gen’ gamers - those with new consoles - spent an average of 3 hours and 24 minutes gaming each day between January and June 2021. This is compared to those gamers with the previous generation consoles spending 2 hours 28 minutes on average each day gaming, and those with old consoles spending 51 minutes on average each day gaming during the same period. As access to these premium consoles proliferates - and as more exclusive games become available on them - we can expect these figures to rise further.
Different markets tell different stories about the rise of gaming. UK gamers spent significantly more time gaming on Samsung TVs compared to their European counterparts in Italy, France, Germany, and Spain, with an average daily gaming time of 1 hour and 24 minutes. Samsung Ads saw the biggest spike in activity for UK gamers in April 2020 during the first national lockdown reaching 2 hours 30 minutes on average per day, and again in January 2021 with 2 hours 9 minutes per day on average.
This Samsung TV data shows that, to quote Orson Welles, people can’t stop eating peanuts. Developments in technology, supercharged by rapid shifts in our social context, have accelerated the role of gaming in the lives of UK consumers. As this medium continues to evolve, so does the opportunity for brands to establish new and exciting routes to this blossoming audience.
Download the full report here.
In our latest member guest blog post, Jane Handel, Product Marketing Manager at Smaato discusses how you can get ahead of the trends impacting the digital ad tech industry to help shape your monetisation strategy and extend your reach. She also shares a preview of some of the topics covered in Smaato's Digital Ad Tech Trends Report.
How did the COVID-19 Pandemic Shape Digital Advertising Tech?
Digital Ad Tech is rapidly evolving to keep up with an increasingly digital world
Any trend report would be remiss to exclude a thorough analysis of how the pandemic has altered not only history but also the future.
In this report, we dive into the impact in specific areas, including eCommerce, fintech, health and wellness, and grocery/food shopping, while fueling digital adoption for remote working, learning, and gaming.
Health & Fitness App Gross Revenue
Worldwide, 2020 – H12021
Source: Smaato Publisher Platform, 2021
Rather than focus on the negative impacts of the pandemic, our report examines the ways in which a more complete shift to a digital lifestyle has expedited online trends, and forced the ad tech industry to evolve quickly in order to keep up. For example, lockdown restrictions actually expedited the digital adoption trend, as can be seen by the monthly active WeCom (WeChat Work) app users in China:
Monthly Active WeCom (AKA WeChat Work) App Users
China, December 2016-March 2021
Source: QuestMobile, April 2021
You’ll see trends across verticals, as well as the impact (and steady recovery) of more negatively affected categories, like the travel industry.
Do You Know the benefits of OTT/CTV Advertising for Publishers and Marketers?
OTT/CTV (streaming video online) has been trending for a while, but this is just the beginning
According to eMarketer, by 2025 nearly 40% of households will have cut the cord, shifting from traditional cable and satellite subscriptions to internet-streamed TV.
Cord Cutters
US, 2016-2025
Source: eMarketer, February 2021
The shift to a reliance on OTT/CTV is just beginning. As 5G sweeps the globe, lightning-fast streaming speeds, reduced latency, and better quality on the go will further fuel OTT’s success.
Publishers and marketers recognise the opportunity to reach a highly engaged audience based on what they like to watch rather than who they are.
In the 2020-2021 Trends Report, we share how marketers can reach specific audiences while helping publishers monetise their inventory. We also go into detail about how different ways to auction OTT/CTV inventory can generate higher eCPMs.
Indexed eCPM for Non-Podded vs. Podded OTT/CTV Inventory on Smaato’s Platform
Indexed before eCPM
Source: Smaato Publisher Platform, 2021
If you’d like to learn more about the history of OTT/CTV and monetisation opportunities for publishers, check out our complimentary guide: OTT/CTV Advertising eBook here.
How Can You Improve Brand Sentiment and Engagement?
CTR is not the only KPI. Learn why delivering positive user experiences is key to long-term success.
From innovative new ad formats to a shift in how marketers and publishers measure success, learn why brand favorability is changing advertising strategies around the globe.
A major theme? Giving users/viewers more control over their advertising interaction and delivering more tailored experiences helps improve brand sentiment. After all, users will favor applications, websites, and content that gives them control over their advertising experience. In fact, Integral Ad Science found that delivering more relevant ads improves favorability by 107%. This means users are more likely to engage with advertisements while maintaining a positive feeling about the publisher’s application, website, or platform.
While ads can sometimes be an unwelcome interruption, users would almost always prefer to engage with ad content than make an in-app purchase:
Would US Mobile Gamers Prefer to Watch Rewarded Video Ads or Pay for In-App Purchases? US, Q2 2020
By Demographic
Source: DSIQO, September 10, 2020
Here are four key ad formats that can engage audiences with a less obtrusive experience, including deep linking and splash ads, shoppable ads, and rewarded video outside of gaming:
As users and viewers opt in to engaging with ads, brand sentiment improves, user experience improves, and the likelihood of conversion increases.
Why is Programmatic Bidding So Popular?
Programmatic Bidding gives publishers more flexibility and control over their inventory, and Marketers get to extend their reach
In 2021, eCPMs for direct marketplace deals (including private exchange and preferred deals) were 18% higher than for open exchange deals on our platform, mirroring a larger trend.
Here’s a quick refresher on the four main programmatic ad buys (open auctions, private marketplaces, preferred deals, and guaranteed deals):
Best for scale: The Original Programmatic Marketplace, Open Auction
Also Known As: Open Exchange, Real-Time Bidding (RTB), Open Marketplace.
As the name suggests, open auctions are open to all. All marketers on the exchange/SSP/ad network have an opportunity to bid on all available publisher inventory. This is the most traditional form of programmatic auctions.
With real-time bidding, publishers can set the floor price for an ad, but marketer demand still determines the final price, and the highest bid wins. Inventory is not guaranteed.
Historically, Open Auctions came with some risks. Publishers wouldn’t always know who was purchasing the inventory, which could hurt their brand image. Meanwhile, inventory isn’t necessarily disclosed, so marketers didn’t always know what they’d be getting. At Smaato, we share IDs with our partners to help improve transparency in the RTB process.
Best for offering premium inventory to relevant advertisers: Private Exchange
Also Known As: Private Marketplace (PMP), PMP Programmatic, Private Auction, Invitation-Only Auction
A private exchange is another form of real-time bidding, but instead of being open to all marketers and all publishers, a single publisher invites a mere handful of marketers to participate.
Private exchanges are quickly becoming industry standard. In 2020, US ad spend in private exchanges outpaced open auctions for the first time.
To access the auction, these hand-selected marketers will need a time-sensitive deal ID. Publishers set a floor price, and the bidding starts there. As in the open auction, the highest bid wins. Inventory is not guaranteed.
Best for a first look at premium inventory: Preferred Deal
Also known as: Unreserved Fixed Rate, Programmatic Non-Guaranteed
A Preferred Deal is a private, 1:1 relationship between a publisher and a marketer. In a Preferred Deal, publishers offer premium inventory to the marketer at a pre-negotiated fixed eCPM price.
While eCPMs are a bit higher, marketers are paying to get what’s essentially “first dibs” on premium ad space. When an ad request comes through, a marketer with a preferred deal has an opportunity to bid at the pre-negotiated fixed eCPM price in real-time, before the inventory heads to open auction. Inventory is not guaranteed.
Best for guaranteed impressions and set budgets: Programmatic Guaranteed
Also known as: Guaranteed Buy, Programmatic Direct, Automated Guaranteed
With a guaranteed buy, a publisher offers specific, reserved inventory to a marketer at a fixed price.
Publishers and marketers negotiate a price for a guaranteed volume of impressions or flight date. This is similar to a direct sale/buy, but programmatic automation replaces the manual IO process, improving efficiency and reducing error.
Meanwhile, header bidding solutions are also quickly becoming a favourite among publishers and marketers alike. Marketers love header bidding solutions because it gives them a chance to compete in the auction, while publishers love header bidding solutions because they ensure better fill and higher eCPMs.
Indexed eCPM for Unified Bidding (Smaato’s Header-Bidding Solution) vs. Exchange for one Publisher on the Smaato Platform
H1 2021
Source: Smaato Publisher Platform, 2021
How Can Publishers and Marketers Ensure Compliance with Privacy Laws?
Hint: first-party data is key
Crucial players like Apple and Google are leading a consumer movement towards increased privacy and data controls. As legislation like the GDPR, CCPA, and CPPA take hold, user privacy protection becomes not only the right thing to do but a legal requirement, as well.
In the full report, see the impacts of policy changes like iOS 14.5 and solutions like SKAdNetwork, to help ensure campaigns get properly attributed while maintaining compliance. Learn how audience targeting can help marketers reach audiences based on what they watch or engage with rather than who they are, and see how the crumbing cookie is paving the way for more relevant contextual opportunities for publishers and marketers alike.
There’s so much more to see.
Publishers, read the report to get familiar with each of these growing ad tech trends to help inform your advertising monetisation strategy. Marketers, advertisers, and DSPs, download your copy to learn how to engage audiences and deliver ROI for your campaigns.
