On 21st & 22nd of September, DMEXCO will be back live and in person for all to attend.

IAB Europe is proud to be a part of this year’s stellar lineup, as we host two keynote presentations and a panel discussion for you to join.

The Time to Act is Now: How Can We Address Sustainability in Digital Advertising?
Media Stage (Hall 8) - 21st at 2.30-2.50 pm

On 21st September at 2.30pm CET our Programmatic & Sustainability Advisor, Andrew Hayward-Wright will dive into what sustainability is and why it matters to our industry today. He will explore the possible ways that we can approach the growing crisis and look at what can be done as an industry to help ensure a sustainable future.

Programmatic Advertising in Europe: Latest Trends, Attitudes and Growth Drivers.
Masterclass (MC 8A, Hall 8) - 22nd, 12-12.30 pm

On 22nd September at 12pm CET we will reveal the latest insights on the development of programmatic in Europe from our annual ‘Attitudes to Programmatic report’. Nick Welch, Head of Programmatic, EMEA, IAS, and Head of IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee will reveal the latest buy-side and sell-side drivers, barriers, and strategies. A panel of industry leaders will then discuss the key findings.

Our team will also be at DMEXCO, and we’d love to meet you. If you’d like to connect with us, please contact communication@iabeurope.eu.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

IAB Europe's Advertiser Council launched in March. It is an exclusive council for Advertisers to provide insights and information on the latest Digital Advertising trends and developments.

The next meeting will take place virtually on the 16th of September where IAB Europe will present the latest market stats, trends and insights to help advertisers better prepare and understand the role of digital advertising and the wider advertising landscape. We will also share the latest policy and regulatory updates.

If you are an advertiser and interested in finding out more, please contact:

Lauren Wakefield, Marketing & Industry Programmes Director, IAB Europe – wakefield@iabeurope.eu
Marie-Clare Puffett, Senior Manager, Marketing & Industry Programmes, IAB Europe – puffett@iabeurope.eu

Curious to know how retail media, paid search and paid social performed over the course of July? Chris Costello, Senior Director of Marketing Research at Skai, is here to fill you in! Keep reading this guest blog post to check out Skai's Monthly Paid Media snapshot that can help you plan your campaigns ahead.

The Amazon Prime Day sales event helped drive average daily spending for the Retail Media channel up in July for nearly half of retail media advertisers compared to June. Overall spending increased by 10% as a result.

Paid Search CPCs

Overall, the average cost of a click in paid search advertising decreased 3% from June to July.

• 21% of paid search accounts paid +10% or more per click in July versus June, compared to 35% who paid -10% or less (-14% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per click in July versus June, compared to 2% of accounts paying -50% or less (+1% differential)

Social Advertising Spending

Overall, average daily spending in social advertising dropped 11% from June to July.

• 28% of paid social accounts spent +10% or more per day in July versus June, compared to 50% who spent -10% or less (-22% differential)
• 8% of accounts spent +50% or more per day in July versus June, compared to 15% of accounts spending -50% or less (-7% differential)

Social Advertising CPMs

Overall, the average cost of a thousand impressions in social advertising decreased 7% from June to July.

• 12% of paid social accounts paid +10% or more per thousand impressions in July versus June, compared to 60% who paid -10% or less (-48% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per thousand impressions in July versus June, compared to 3% of accounts paying -50% or less (% differential)

Retail Media Spending

Overall, average daily spending in retail media advertising increased 10% from June to July.

• 48% of retail media advertising accounts spent +10% or more per day in July versus June, compared to 29% who spent -10% or less (+19% differential)
• 18% of accounts spent +50% or more per day in July versus June, compared to 5% of accounts spending -50% or less (+13% differential)

Retail Media CPCs

Overall, the average cost of a click in retail media advertising rose 4% from June to July.

• 35% of retail media advertising accounts paid +10% or more per click in July versus June, compared to 23% who paid -10% or less (+12% differential)
• 3% of accounts paid +50% or more per click in July compared to June, versus 0% of accounts paying -50% or less (+3% differential)

Come back next month for the most up-to-date data!

‘It is widely documented that parts of the media industry have struggled to recruit a workforce that mirrors society. Thankfully, over the last few years, much has changed and we’re seeing an increase in diverse talent coming into the industry but there is still some way to go. In this week's guest blog post, Emma Newman, CRO EMEA at PubMatic talks about DE&I needs and the importance of building it into an organization’s core values.’

In the last few years, we’ve seen a positive and much-needed change in society around equality and representation. Movements have arisen around the rights of specific groups but if the media industry wants to make real progress around diversity and inclusion, we need to review every layer of the advertising process and ensure that inclusion is part of the conversation at all organizations involved in delivering advertising and at every level of those organizations.

Look Below the Surface

Diversity, equality, and inclusion (DE&I) is a multifaceted area and it is our collective responsibility to continually evaluate the level of diverse representation in every project we’re involved in and make changes when that is lacking. This is critical if we’re to bring credibility to the work that we do as it is impossible to truly understand the impact of under-representation or DE&I issues unless you have lived that experience.

We need to make it a habit to identify who is missing from the conversation and make it a priority to find those people and get them involved in our work.

Critically, this must not be treated as a tick-box exercise – there must be a genuine sense of belonging for everyone involved. No single individual will ever live the experiences of all others; however, this doesn’t mean that we can’t help build a sense of belonging for anyone from any background. When you have identified a need to bring new people together, but lack relevant lived experiences, identify thought leaders who have gone through similar experiences and engage with their content. Spark conversations, amplify the messages trusted thought leaders spread, and continue to do so until the people you’re trying to reach feel comfortable entering your space.

Measurement and Accountability

Good policy setting starts with gathering data and insights into the opinions, perspectives, and expectations across your organization, at all levels – especially what is needed to make your business equally accessible to everyone. As you develop DE&I policies and processes, make sure you build robust measurement strategies that enable you to compare and contrast progress across all departments, at all levels, as well as across all genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations and physical abilities that are appropriate to your business. Give this data the value it deserves, treat it in the same way you treat your revenue data – make it front and center of your business. This level of transparency and accountability generates authentic, sustainable, meaningful change.

True DE&I also requires looking beyond your own business and creating a circle of accountability that includes all your partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders. In the marketing world, everyone holds the key to driving this transformation beyond who we see in adverts. The goal of advertising is to connect with the widest range of potential customers – how can anyone do this if they are working in, or with, homogenous teams?

We should be fueling progress in diversity through RFPs that ensure all partners involved in conceptualizing, making, and delivering an advertising campaign come with the widest range of real-world experiences possible.

How Can We Break Down More Barriers?

The advertising industry has a distinct opportunity to influence culture and leading by example is how we nurture the next generation of industry leaders. If we want to continue to improve DE&I, we first need to acknowledge and evaluate every component part within our own organizations and partners and be prepared to be uncomfortable with what we find.

It’s important to measure not only the level of representation but also the perceptions of what that means to individuals and to find a way to make sure every individual feels they are able to use their voice safely without fear of negative repercussions. We need to work collectively to remove the sense of fear we all have of doing the wrong thing or embarrassing our team, our company, or our clients.

There is a genuine desire for change across the industry and that desire comes from a positive place. We need to extrapolate this and be kind to ourselves and each other and understand that we might use the wrong words or do the wrong thing but we’re trying to do something positive, we just don’t quite always know how best to do this. But it’s from failure that we learn that we can educate others, and be truly transformative.

IAB Europe’s annual Brand Safety Poll conducted at the end of last year found that:

• Privacy concerns are more of a challenge than last year
• 70% of respondents think that technology is helping to solve brand safety concerns
• 76% disagree or strongly disagree that contextual advertising and brand safety are the same
• A range of tools are used to ensure brand safety – inclusion lists, exclusion lists, verification partners and keyword targeting
• The majority of respondents think that brand safety requires a bespoke approach to each client’s needs
• Brand suitability plays a role in 90% of respondents’ campaigns
• Traditional digital and in-gaming are the platforms that respondents feel need more support to tackle brand safety

Our Senior Manager of Marketing and Industry Programmes, Marie-Clare Puffett sat down with Emmanuel Josserand, Senior Director, Brand, Agency and Industry Relations at FreeWheel to dive into the results in a bit more detail.

Q. Privacy has increased as a concern, why do you think this is?

Privacy has always been a concern, but over the past few years, this has been exacerbated and consumers are now a lot more cautious about how their data is being used. The various data leakages or even fraud scandals that have recently taken place, as well as the mis-use of consumer data by some companies for advertising purposes have likely been a trigger to consumer concerns. 

In fact, we recently published a report on consumers’ attitudes and perspectives when it comes to ad-supported streaming services.  One of the key findings of this report is that, while consumers are fine or even receptive to ads related to their interests or hobbies, a vast majority (above 60% across Western Europe) indicated that they do not want to share their information to receive personalised advertising. Which means that all players in the data-driven advertising ecosystem should prioritise the use and data privacy within their strategies. 

Q. The majority of respondents think that brand safety requires a bespoke approach according to the client. How can brand safety approaches be customised to different clients’ needs?

Well, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Every brand needs to think about where and what their audience is doing and where they are. There will be some obvious content/site issues such as hate speech, pirated content and graphic sites, but some of the categories can sometimes be confusing. A site with content about rehabilitating horses after an injury could be flagged under Death & Injury and meanwhile it’s a heart-warming piece of content and the brand might be missing that user in an emotionally positive moment. In a one-size-fits-all solution, this would limit the Brand and be a missed opportunity.  Agencies and the industry need to have honest conversations with Brands and not be overly risk-averse.  Currently, we are of the view that only using the brand-safety technology is not enough and the solution is unlikely to simply be a list of thousands of keywords. Individual and honest conversations will help Brands find the right mix for brand safety.

Q. A range of tools are now used to address brand safety. How can these tools be used together?

From a technology standpoint, industry players should all be working with an IVT vendor as well as a contextual brand safety specialist. It is so important for tech providers to continuously work towards improving their methodology. Ideally the technology should also be combined with teams who can explore items that run high to identify false positives and find ways to work around to continuously ameliorate.  In the same vein, it is also important to flag those true positives to potentially limit specific partners which can be a particular publisher, a long tail or lesser quality player. Ultimately, there is never a substitute for knowing your customer and/or content providers. You should feel confident that they would not allow a piece of content to run that could be damaging to advertisers. Any piece that could be flagged as controversial should be tagged for no ads. We all know the NSFW (Not Safe For Work), maybe we could establish a NSFA (Not Safe for Advertising), this would help limit poor brand association and reinforce brand safety and suitability.

Q. Brand suitability is now part of the majority of campaigns according to the survey results, what do you think has driven this?

Brands are spending millions to build their reputation and attract their desired audiences. In this digital world, with rampant fraud and bots, there are a lot of uncertainties as to where your brand could end up which could easily undermine a brand’s high-earned reputation. 

So, there is a strong appetite from brands and their agencies to access the right platforms, with the right content, to ensure brand suitability. From an advertiser’s perspective context is becoming a prerequisite and technology will play an important role in ensuring advertisers can plan and book their campaign in a way that will guarantee their brands are being seen in the appropriate or suitable environment, i.e. in line with their values.

Q. The respondents of the survey were divided in terms of the stakeholder group most responsible for brand safety; how can we work together as an industry to tackle this?

This is an interconnected world and interoperability is essential. And this is true in many different areas, but particularly when it comes to data. And everyone, from DSP, DMP, CMP, SSP to agencies or publishers have a part to play; all stakeholders have a responsibility to ensure that data privacy and brand safety is at the core of everything they do. And buyers should have the right partners and mechanisms in place to buy the most premium inventory which will guarantee a safe haven for brands.