IAB Europe’s DSA Taskforce Actively Working to Support Compliance Efforts, Open For Members to Join
IAB Europe continues to work with industry members to support compliance needs; this time with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). IAB Europe’s DSA Task Force expects to release a solution for industry adoption later this year, but today we are seeking involvement from the broader ecosystem for further development. Ad supply chain businesses should prepare to put DSA support on product roadmaps looking ahead to the DSA 16 February 2024 date of applicability.
As currently drafted, the proposed solution begins with the “back-end”, enabling the piece of the DSA puzzle that provides transparency information within the supply chain and leaving the user-facing disclosures to be developed by market actors.This does not preclude future work standardizing aspects of user experience. Within the IAB Europe DSA Taskforce, we seek further discussion.
Background
The DSA was adopted in October 2022. Along with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the DSA is intended to improve the confidence of both private consumers and business users of Online Platforms as defined by DSA in the products and services they access via those platforms, as well as the advertising they are exposed to on them, and to ensure a level playing field between platforms. The DSA lays down transparency obligations in relation to advertising; these obligations apply to online platforms, “very large online platforms” (VLOPs), and “very large online search engines” (VLOSEs).
Article 26 DSA has been the main focus of our taskforce. It requires online platforms to ensure that users have real-time access to certain elements of information about ads shown to them on an online platform:
Although the legal obligation to provide the user-facing information disclosures applies to online platforms, it is clear that in many advertising scenarios, those platforms will need to rely on third-party vendors for the information that will be required to populate the disclosures. DSA obligations are on the Platforms and VLOPs to provide transparency about the advertisement displayed to consumers – this necessitates the supply chain ecosystem’s involvement in supporting Platforms and VLOPs across RTB, Non-programmatic, Audio/Video, and In-App scenarios.
Therefore, our focus has been on the collection and delivery of the Art. 26 information from the parties in the supply chain that have the information.
Expected Roles to support IAB Europe DSA Transparency
Fulfilling DSA Art. 26 obligations will require cooperation and collaboration between players in the supply chain. In this blog post, we are sharing our draft of roles and responsibilities for compiling and delivering Art. 26 ad transparency information. Given timing, we want to encourage businesses to allocate resources to support DSA transparency industry solutions. IAB Europe intends to support a wide range of use cases. Depending on the use case, different actors will perform different roles. In any case, the online platforms who are the object of the legal requirements will have different options currently being discussed in the Taskforce. The following are only proposed draft scenarios, and are subject to change with further Taskforce development.
By sharing these draft Roles, we want to indicate that many business types could have a role to play, and encourage further discussion.
| Business Type | Proposed Top Level Roles and Requirements by End of Year [Work-in-Progress, Subject to Change] |
| Platforms and VLOPs |
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| Platform/VLOP tech partners |
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| CMPs |
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| SSPs |
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| DSPs |
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Based on the draft roles/responsibilities listed above, we encourage advertising ecosystem businesses to prepare product roadmaps to coordinate with partners on this matter and develop support for DSA compliance before the end of the year. The Task Force is open for IAB Europe members to participate. We anticipate an actual release of the solution for adoption in the coming months, and look forward to collaboration to arrive there.
Next steps you can take;
We’re excited to announce the release of our latest Guide to Improving Sustainable Business Decision-Making to help you, and your business in your journey to greater sustainability, transparency, and success.
As a leader in the digital advertising industry, we understand the challenges and opportunities that come with navigating the ever-evolving landscape of sustainability and responsible business practices. With terms like "sustainable," "green," "net-zero," and "carbon-neutral" having gained significant traction in our industry, it makes it increasingly essential for businesses to discern the authenticity and validity of such claims.
We are excited to introduce our new guide to help organisations make more informed decisions and contribute to a more sustainable future for our industry.
What Does the Guide Offer?
This initial guide has been designed to assist you in evaluating sustainability claims from potential partners and provides general orientations for exploring critical areas during the initial stages of assessment. By leveraging this guide, you can better evaluate sustainability claims from potential partners and implement sustainable business practices.
The guide explores key areas including:
This will also be further supported by the development of more in-depth business reports and playbooks and sustainability scorecards that will enable market participants to consider ESG factors as well as economic benefits.
This guide is an invaluable tool for businesses seeking to navigate the complexities of sustainability and make more informed choices.
27th July 2023, Brussels, Belgium, IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising and marketing ecosystem, today released its ‘Guide to Improving Sustainable Business Decision-Making’. This initial guide has been created to assist businesses in the digital advertising ecosystem navigate the ever-evolving landscape of sustainability and responsible business practices.
Terms such as ‘sustainable’, ‘green’, ‘net-zero’, and ‘carbon-neutral’ to describe technology, services, and products in the digital advertising industry have increased in traction recently, making it increasingly important for businesses to understand the validity of such labels.
With the rise of greenwashing practices, where false or misleading claims are made regarding environmental efforts, it is crucial for businesses to exercise due diligence when evaluating sustainability claims and when looking to choose the partners they wish to work with. Government regulators are also intensifying their focus on combating such practices, and businesses need to ensure that their decisions align with genuine sustainability goals.
The ‘Guide to Improving Sustainable Business Decision-Making’ was written by members of IAB Europe’s Sustainability Standards Committee including, Alliance Digitale, BVDW, EssenceMediacom, IMPACT+, Microsoft Advertising, ProsiebenSat.1, and Scope3. It offers valuable insights and practical tips to help organisations make informed choices when looking to achieve sustainability in the digital advertising industry. The guide will be further supported by the development of more in-depth business reports and playbooks and sustainability scorecards that will enable market participants to consider ESG factors as well as economic benefits.
Key areas covered in the guide include tips and guidance on environmental considerations, European legislation and guidelines, anti-greenwashing principles, social considerations, and the economic benefits of sustainable decision-making.
"By launching the Guide to Improving Sustainable Business Decision-Making, we aim to support businesses in the digital advertising industry in taking crucial first steps to navigate the complex realm of sustainability," said Townsend Feehan, CEO at IAB Europe. "We believe that informed decision-making can help lead to a brighter and more sustainable future for our industry. As we look and move ahead, we eagerly anticipate enriching this initial initiative with further in-depth guidance, to empower businesses to approach sustainable strategies with greater confidence."
The full guide is now available for download on the IAB Europe website here.
Notes to Editors:
About IAB Europe
IAB Europe is the European-level association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem. Its mission is to promote the interests of the industry and enable cross-ecosystem collaboration amongst its national federation and corporate members to drive solutions to shared challenges and develop frameworks, standards, and programmes that contribute to sustainable growth and innovation.
About IAB Europe’s Sustainability Standards Committee
IAB Europe’s Sustainability Standards Committee was formed in October 2022 with the primary focus of bringing the industry together to create standards for the delivery of digital advertising and to help all industry participants to reduce the amount of energy consumed and carbon emissions produced through the use of digital media.
We are thrilled to share the release of our much-anticipated The Evolution of Digital Audio Advertising in Europe Report 2023, conducted in collaboration with GroupM Nexus. This report is packed with invaluable insights, offering a comprehensive overview of the current trends and investment strategies in the digital audio advertising landscape. Brace yourself for a glimpse into the promising future that this dynamic channel holds for marketers across Europe.
Download the report today and discover the following six key insights and more:
According to our findings, 65% of European buyers consider audio's ability to enhance wider media plans as the top driver for investment. This shows the critical role that digital audio advertising plays in the broader marketing mix, solidifying its position as a strategic tool for capturing audience attention.
The report reveals a remarkable surge in the interest surrounding digital audio advertising. An impressive two-thirds (66%) of media buyers surveyed expressed their intention to invest more in digital audio within the next 12 months.
Investment in digital audio is experiencing diversification, with various formats and channels capturing marketers' attention. Streaming services, podcasts, and online radio are leading the way as preferred ad formats, catering to diverse audience preferences and consumption habits.
Marketers are optimistic about digital audio advertising, with 76% of advertisers and agencies planning to increase their investment over the next 12-24 months. This optimistic outlook can be attributed to the channels proven effectiveness in conveying brand messages and driving results.
Our report identifies the key drivers behind the increased spending on digital audio advertising. The top three factors include incremental reach, innovative activation techniques such as dynamic creative ads optimisation (DCO), and improved targeting efficiencies.
With 7 in 10 marketers anticipating a substantial rise in connecting with audiences through audio ads on mobile devices, digital audio offers a unique opportunity to engage with consumers throughout their day.
For an in-depth analysis of the current audio investment landscape, the key drivers behind advertisers, agencies and publishers, as well as the challenges they face, download the full Evolution of Digital Audio Advertising Report here.
You can also check out the press release as featured in Campaign here and sign up to our dedicated webinar for more insight here.
Two-thirds of European marketers rank audio’s ability to enhance wider media plans as the top driver for investment according to joint research from GroupM and IAB Europe
Media buyers plan to invest more in audio in the next 12 months
25 July 2023, LONDON, UK — GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, today announced the findings of its Europe Digital Audio Advertising Report 2023 produced by GroupM Nexus, GroupM’s industry-leading performance marketing organisation, in partnership with IAB Europe. The report explores:
The report found two-thirds (66%) of buyers plan to invest more in audio in the next 12 months. The report is based on a survey, conducted by GroupM Nexus, that leveraged the national IAB network in Europe to survey 549 advertisers, agencies, and publishers across 29 markets between May and June 2023.
Almost half (47%) of the advertisers and agencies surveyed state that audio advertising is either their top or among their top media choices. Buyers’ three main drivers for audio ad spend include the channel’s ability to enhance wider media plans (65%), raise brand awareness (55%), and reach specific audiences (48%). Investment is also diversifying across a rich variety of audio channels and ad formats, with the majority of buyers surveyed directing their spend toward streaming (59%), podcast (59%), or online radio (57%).
Marketers are optimistic about digital audio
According to the survey, two-thirds (66%) of buyers plan to invest more in digital audio advertising specifically in the next 12 months with almost one-quarter (24%) expecting to increase spend between 11% and 30%. These forecasts indicate high levels of confidence in digital audio as a channel that can make an impact with target audiences.
Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist at IAB Europe commented: “From 2018 to 2022, digital audio has outpaced all other advertising channels in Europe in terms of compound annual growth rate**. The pandemic served as a cyclical catalyst for digital audio, particularly podcasts, due to a rise in consumption. However, structural enhancements like improved measurement, simplified buying and automation continue to advance the market. The advertising industry's emphasis on attention in a screen saturated media environment, quality of reach and brand safety positions digital audio as a promising investment channel for advertisers and a potent platform for publishers to exploit context. We project the European digital audio market, which stood at €772 million in ad spend in 2022, to surpass the €1 billion mark by 2025.” *
Marketers surveyed ranked incremental reach (46%), innovative activation such as dynamic creative ads optimisation (DCO) (43%), and targeting efficiencies (42%) as the top three drivers for digital audio spend. These will play a significant role in attracting further investment over the next 18-24 months, with 76% of advertisers and agencies intending to increase their audio ad spend in this time period. Advertisers and agencies ranked smart speaker interactive ads to be the biggest opportunity for increasing digital audio budgets in the future, followed by dynamic audio ads. Cross-channel insights and activation technology, alongside advanced contextual targeting, also rank as significant opportunities to unlock digital audio growth. Capabilities that allow buyers to capture audience attention, drive consumer action, and execute informed cross-channel campaigns are critical for securing greater ad spend.
Audio ads reach audiences on the go through personal devices
Seven in 10 marketers surveyed expect to connect with their audiences via audio ads on mobile, followed by desktops and laptops (48%) and tablets (44%).
The prevalence of mobile as a key audio device implies that digital audio offers marketers a valuable opportunity to engage audiences throughout the day. Survey respondents also believe they connect with audiences via Connected TV, game consoles, and stand alone radio devices, demonstrating the pervasiveness of audio.
Harry Harcus, GroupM Nexus EMEA commented: “Audio is a channel buzzing with opportunity as buyers and publishers expect notable growth in the near future. As a medium that reaches highly engaged audiences at moments when its more visual counterparts cannot, audio is capable of complementing buyers’ wider plans and publishers’ media offerings. Advancing the technologies that enable audio advertising can unlock cross-channel optimisation and performance for buyers, in turn making audio inventory even more attractive and driving revenue for publishers.”
For further insights into current audio investment, as well as key drivers and challenges for advertisers, agencies, and publishers, the full 2023 report is available here.
ENDS
About GroupM and GroupM Nexus
GroupM is WPP’s media investment group and the world’s leading media investment company with a mission to shape the next era of media where advertising works better for people. The company is responsible for more than $60 billion in annual media investment, as measured by the independent research bureau COMvergence. Through its global agencies Mindshare, Wavemaker, EssenceMediacom, and mSix&Partners, and cross-channel performance (GroupM Nexus), data (Choreograph), entertainment (GroupM Motion Entertainment) and investment solutions, GroupM leverages a unique combination of global scale, expertise, and innovation to generate sustained value for clients wherever they do business. Discover more at www.groupm.com.
GroupM Nexus is the industry’s largest community of performance marketing experts designed to drive performance and innovation at scale for GroupM’s agencies and clients. With the most platform accreditations in the industry combined with proprietary technology, media and solutions, a culture of continuous innovation and scaled partnerships, GroupM Nexus consistently sets new benchmarks for effectiveness and efficiency across all forms of media to drive growth for the world’s leading advertisers.
ABOUT IAB EUROPE
IAB Europe is the European-level association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem. Its mission is to promote the interests of the industry and enable cross-ecosystem collaboration among its national federation and corporate members to drive solutions to shared challenges and develop frameworks, standards, and programmes that contribute to sustainable growth and innovation.
* IAB Europe’s AdEx Benchmark study currently measures ad spend for display, audio, social, video. Retail Media is not currently a part of the study.
Scope of the role
IAB Europe has a new opening for a full-time Digital Advertising Product Manager to support the development and roll-out of programmatic digital advertising standards in Europe that relate to real time bidding, supply chain transparency and advertising sustainability.
The Digital Advertising Product Manager will support a small number of working groups focused on the technical development and implementation of IAB Europe’s privacy standard, the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF), and on the development of standards in domains outside of privacy such as advertising transparency requirements laid down in the Digital Services Act (DSA) and environmental sustainability. He/she will also act as liaison and ensure effective collaboration with partner organisations on digital advertising technology topics.
Specific tasks in the scope of the role
Specifically, the Programmatic Advertising Product Manager would be expected to:
Providers (CMPs) and Vendors that implement the Transparency & Consent
Framework. This involve recruiting and managing external contractors that develop automated testing of CMPs and Vendors’ technologies to verify their compliance with the policies and technical specifications of the TCF;
To deliver the above, the successful candidate will have a deep understanding of the online advertising “ecosystem” and the technology involved in the delivery of programmatic advertising. A relevant academic background such as software engineering and at least three years of professional experience in technical product management in one or more companies operating in the sector are minimum requirements, as is good written and spoken English.
Experience in multicultural environments, ability to work autonomously, and a willingness to spontaneously identify and take on new challenges in a dynamic and demanding professional environment is important. Alongside this the role will need to confidently and with authority contribute to large and diverse working groups and feel comfortable when in some instances leadership of these groups is required.
The position could be based in Belgium (Brussels) or elsewhere in Europe. The position reports to IAB Europe’s Privacy Director and will require collaboration with colleagues on the policy, legal compliance and industry services teams within IAB Europe.
Capabilities
Knowledge, skills and experience
Technical / functional skills
Personal attributes
About IAB Europe
IAB Europe is a European-level industry association of national federations and corporate members active in digital advertising and marketing. Its mission is to promote Europe’s digital advertising & marketing industry and ensure that advertising continues to finance a rich universe of online content & services, including independent media, that is accessible on terms that all citizens can afford. Through its direct corporate membership and that of its national federations, it represents some 3,000-4,000 companies across the advertising ecosystems, from advertisers and agencies to adtech vendors, publishers, broadcasters and eCommerce platforms.
Submission of application
All submissions should be sent to jobs@iabeurope.eu including a statement of interest that details experience relevant to the role, current CV and remuneration expectations.
In this week’s member guest blog post we caught up with Nadav Perry, VP Global Brands & Agencies at Taboola. In this all-inclusive piece Nadav looks at supply path transparency in video ads. For more on what he thinks are the key challenges and how we can move past them, keep reading.
If you’re in the advertising world, you’re probably familiar with the quote widely attributed to US Retail Magnate John Wanamaker who claimed that; “Half my advertising spend is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.”
Surprisingly, in the digital advertising world of 2023 despite all the technology advancements, attribution capabilities and ability to measure almost every step of the supply path, this quote is not only still valid, it’s a major pain point for most advertisers. In fact, the digital distance between advertisers and their end customers is not showing any signs of shrinking and many are still unable to account for much of their spend across the media supply path.
Supply Path Optimisation (SPO) is a daily challenge for media buyers trying to streamline and monitor their media supply path. The question of what exactly is the nature of what they’re buying remains unanswered for even the most savvy advertiser. But how can you optimise if you don’t even have visibility into the supply path? Supply Path Authenticity - transparency around where and how ad dollars are being spent - is crucial for media buyers looking to reduce costs, improve performance and maintain quality.
One example of this phenomenon is video advertising. Traditionally, video ad placements on the open internet were divided between instream and outstream. Instream was widely regarded as a more desirable type of ad content because of the expected user experience and intent to watch. Without definitive guidelines, many video ad platforms classified their video ads as instream when in fact they’re far from it, and in many cases it’s hard to tell if users are even paying them any attention.
Every advertiser dreams of the ultimate video experience - brand safe, viewable, users with high intent… But the reality is supply that’s very diverse, with varying formats, characteristics, settings and environments, makes it hard for advertisers and media agencies to know exactly what they’re getting.
In an effort to help advertisers better understand what they’re spending their video ad dollars on, add transparency to the supply chain and improve user experience, IAB TechLab released updated guidelines for new definitions of video ad placements. The new guidelines define ‘instream’ as “Pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads that are played before, during or after the streaming video content that the consumer has requested. Instream video must be set to “sound on” by default at player start, or have explicitly clear user intent to watch the video content. While there may be other content surrounding the player, the video content must be the focus of the user’s visit”
We’re already seeing a shift in the balance between instream and outstream with advertisers pushing for adoption of these new guidelines. In fact, with the updated definition, only 10% of video content is expected to be classified as instream.
The remaining 90% of video content will be classified in a number of tiers of outstream and for many video advertising platforms this means a significant change having classified their video content as instream regardless of whether it was ever watched. Not only will they not be able to call their video placements ‘instream’ anymore or have access to advertising demand that proactively targeted instream supply - they will not be able to charge advertisers a higher premium for it.
But for some video advertising platforms the change is a welcome one - companies like Taboola who have focused mainly on outstream. Not all outstream is created equal and Taboola has spent recent years perfecting the tech and know-how to provide outstream video that drives business results. Unlike most platforms, Taboola’s unique technology powers the organic, editorial and advertiser experience on publisher sites which means direct access to the page on which the video ad is played. The result is sophisticated contextual and audience-based data providing advertisers with advanced context and targeting capabilities, placement on the world’s top publisher sites and brand safety. In other words - Premium Outstream.
Moreover, in a recent study, Kantar found that Taboola native outstream videos increased user awareness, favourability and engagement. Among others, the study showed that more people watched the whole ad in both the social and streaming platform after also being exposed to native ads. And more viewers enabled audio on the social platform after they were exposed to native ads.
In the video advertising supply path, experts agree that IAB TechLab’s updated guidelines will create a much smaller video advertising tier of ‘true instream’ but they will also take advertisers one step further in their understanding of outstream supply and their ability to see beyond the general in and out stream definition, focusing on other attributes that give video placements true value.
The evolution of video advertising is far from over but with these new guidelines, media buyers have better visibility and transparency when it comes to where they’re spending their video dollars and what they’re really getting for them. While many media agencies are trying to promote SPO initiatives, some market leaders are ready to go beyond SPO and start tackling SPA (Supply Path Authenticity) where the question of video supply authenticity will no longer be left unanswered.
At the end of 2022, we created a new Retail Media Working group that aims to bring stakeholders from across the Retail Media ecosystem together to facilitate collaboration, provide education, insights, and create standards. Currently, however, there are no standards for Retail Media in existence, so the group is exploring what should be tackled and then prioritised in this area.
We therefore wish to invite those involved in the buying or selling of Retail Media to share what is hindering further investment and what areas are in need of standardisation, whether that be metrics or measurement or creative specifications. If you are a buyer, seller or ad technology provider, please share your views in this short survey and feel free to pass on to your colleagues as well.
Completing the survey will take no more than 5 minutes of your time and will help us to support and shape the future of Retail Media in Europe. The deadline to complete the survey is Friday 11th August and rest assured that your response will remain strictly confidential.
With summer in full swing and the end of H1 here, we look back over the last six months to celebrate all the best bits and the great work we have achieved with our wonderful members.
A huge thank you to everyone involved, for your hard work, support, and continued commitment to sharing your expertise.
Events
Our focus for H1 centred on our new work tracks Sustainability and Retail Media, alongside key outputs from the Programmatic Trading Committee on Omnichannel and Brand Advertising Committee on In-Gaming. Our Great Debate series was a great success with a hybrid event in partnership with Taboola on Retail Media and a virtual event diving into sustainability across three panels. We also held our first hybrid Virtual Programmatic Day in partnership with Xaxis in May, where we covered topics such as Omnichannel and AI. Finally, we were thrilled to see so many of our members gather tp hear insightful keynote presentations and panel discussions at our flagship event Interact in Madrid in May which was a great success.
Catchup on our event recordings from H1 below
Guides, Insights & Industry Leading Research
Along with our committees and fantastic members, we have put together educational and insightful outputs for the industry. Click below to dive into these pieces.
Policy, Advocacy & Legal
During the first half of 2023, our Policy Committee established the DSA Ads Transparency Taskforce to discuss the implementation of Article 26 of the Digital Services Act (DSA) concerning ads transparency requirements.
The Committee also produced the European Media Freedom Act (MFA) position paper, which primarily focuses on audience measurement, specifically Article 23 of the MFA.
Regarding the Data Act, two joint industry open letters have been issued on the Data Act, one initiated by FEDMA addressing LIBE MEPs and another initiated by IAB Europe during the start of trilogue negotiations. These letters highlighted our concerns about the conflicts between the Data Act and the GDPR.
We have also been actively participating in the European Commission's work on the Cookie Pledge and the Fitness Check on consumer law. The Policy Committee is currently preparing its advocacy strategy for the upcoming 2024 EU elections.
What’s on the Horizon for H2 2023?
As we head into the second half of 2023, you can expect more great content, insights, and exploration from us and all our members. We will be focusing our efforts on the hugely important topics of Sustainability and Retail Media and will be diving further into Omnichannel, DOOH, and Audio. We’ll also bring you even more great events including our second Virtual Programmatic Day, our Great Debate on Trust & Transparency, and our Virtual CTV event to name a few.
If you’d like to get more involved with our Committees & Task Forces and the great work that we produce at IAB Europe, please reach out to the team at communication@iabeurope.eu.
We look forward to our continued collaboration with you all.
IAB Europe’s Widely-Anticipated 2022 AdEx Benchmark Report is Now Live!
Released on 13th July 2023, the report is the definitive guide to advertising expenditure in Europe covering 29 markets. It details the formats and channels that contributed to digital advertising’s annual growth of 9.8 percent in 2022, culminating in a total market value of €86bn.
You can read the full report here.
If you’re looking for key facts, stats, and highlights, then check out these short videos, featuring our very own Chief Economist, Daniel Knapp:
Report details all factors contributing to 9.8% annual growth
Digital Audio fuels strongest format growth increasing by 22.1%
Brussels, Belgium, 13th July 2023 - IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising and marketing ecosystem, today released its full 2022 AdEx Benchmark Report following the release of the study highlights in May. Now in its seventeenth year, the report is the definitive guide to advertising expenditure in Europe covering 29 markets. It details the formats and channels that contributed to digital advertising’s annual growth of 9.8 percent in 2022, culminating in a total market value of €86bn.
Commenting on the positive market growth in 2022, Townsend Feehan, CEO at IAB Europe said, “Despite facing unprecedented macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges, such as the war in Ukraine and rising inflation, the digital advertising market demonstrated exceptional resilience, with an increase of €7.7 billion from 2021.”
Market Coverage Expansion
In 2022, the geographical coverage of the AdEx Benchmark study underwent key changes, with Belarus and Russia being excluded and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania added as new markets. This expansion allows for a more comprehensive overview, encompassing a wider range of markets in the report.
Video and Audio Record Strongest Growth
The findings highlight audio as the fastest-growing format, experiencing a remarkable increase of 22.1% to reach €0.7 billion. Video also witnessed substantial growth, with a 13.6% increase, valuing the format's investment at €18.3 billion.
Programmatic Commands Over 57% of Display
Programmatic, excluding social, continues to account for more than half of display ad spend, with video accounting for 52.8% of the share of programmatic spend. However, huge differences in the maturity of programmatic across markets mean there is significant headroom for growth. Key markets, including France, Germany Italy, and Sweden, remain low in programmatic share in comparison to the UK.
Dr. Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist at IAB Europe, who compiled and presented the study commented, “Growth of digital advertising in Europe slowed to +9.8% in 2022. This can be attributed, in part, to a natural correction following a robust recovery in 2021 after the pandemic, which witnessed the most substantial market expansion in more than ten years (+33.8%). Additionally, the presence of macro-economic fragility and the ramifications of the war in Ukraine acted as further obstacles. Despite these challenges, the growth rate still surpasses expectations, particularly considering that digital advertising has now become a well-established media category, accounting for over 60% of total media ad expenditure, compared to less than 20% in 2009, the last year with similar growth patterns.”
View and download the full report here
Notes:
AdEx Benchmark is the definitive guide to advertising expenditure in Europe.
The data has been compiled by IAB Europe based on information provided by the national IAB offices around Europe. The report includes market size and value information for 2022 for the following markets: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK and Ukraine. The data represents the calendar year 2022 January- December. This is the seventeenth AdEx Benchmark study which began in the calendar year 2006. Display includes PC-based and mobile banners, rich media and video formats.
The report provides a comprehensive perspective of digital advertising spend across Europe which is essential in benchmarking market development trends, the increasingly pan-regional nature of digital advertising investments, and the role of Europe’s digital economy in a global context, attracting global start-up funding and European policy formulation.
For more information please contact:
Helen Mussard, CMO, IAB Europe – mussard@iabeurope.eu - +44 (0) 7399 919594
Marie-Clare Puffett, Marketing & Insights Director, IAB Europe – puffett@iabeurope.eu - +44 (0) 7973836917
Are you ready to dive into the ever-evolving world of programmatic advertising? We're excited to invite you to take part in the latest Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising Survey and help us uncover valuable insights.
Whether you're an Advertiser, Agency, Ad Tech company, or Publisher, your perspective is crucial in understanding the current state of programmatic adoption across Europe. Your input will shape the industry's future.
Now in its ninth year, the study is an industry benchmark to show how programmatic advertising attitudes, adoption, and strategies are evolving, and you can access last year's report here.
The survey will only take a few minutes of your time, and the deadline to participate is Friday 11th August. As a token of our appreciation, you also have the opportunity to enter a prize draw. If you win, you will have the chance to select a charitable cause where we will make a donation of two hundred euros on your behalf.
Rest assured, your responses will be treated with confidentiality. Plus, as a thank-you gesture, we'll send a complimentary copy of the comprehensive 2023 report, providing a deep dive into the survey results to those that wish to receive it.
But we also need your help to spread the word! Last year’s survey received over 1K respondents and we are keen to keep up this momentum to drive the research forward. Share the survey with your colleagues and networks, and let's gather a diverse range of perspectives. Together, we can shape the future of programmatic advertising.
The top-level results will also be shared at DMEXCO 2023 so industry stakeholders can see the trends and developments shaping the European programmatic industry.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to make a difference. Join us in shaping the industry's future by participating in the survey today!
