You can browse or download the report on the Bulgarian online advertising market in 2016 below.
You can browse or download the IAB Finland online ad spend report for 2016 below.
by Ryan Cook, Global Director, Programmatic Operations and Ibrahim Ennafaa, Product Manager, Formats Team
What does viewability mean to you? “I would like my ad to be viewable” is far too vague of a term these days. Whilst incredibly important, it’s almost humorous when we think that just 2-years ago viewability was hardly an appetizer at a buzzword dinner table. The importance of viewability is only increasing as digital video increases 85% year on year and costs up to 10x more than display ads.
By definition: “A served ad impression can be classified as a viewable impression if the ad was contained in the viewable space of the browser window, on an in-focus browser tab, based on pre-established criteria such as the percent of ad pixels within the viewable space and the length of time the ad is in the viewable space of the browser.”
The key component here is “pre-established criteria”, which differs for various agencies or individual advertisers. As such, many measurement companies have skin in the game. Each new vendor is offering new ways to monitor viewability in various mediums: mobile applications, mobile websites, desktop, and wearables.
One of the major focal points for the IAB Tech Lab to support the industry is to have a consistent set of standards and structured ability to verify the quality of delivery. As such, there is a prodigious update to Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) documentation for VAST v4.0.
To date, most third party measurement companies are taking advantage of VPAID capabilities to run their measurement code as a verification service. However they also have to deal with the VAST parsing just like a regular ad video player as they are wrapping the client’s original VAST inside of their VPAID.
This is becoming an alarming issue. This utilisation of the VPAID capabilities for this purpose (which is not an IAB specification), is causing delays in ad rendering, increasing latency, ruining user experience and deteriorating campaign performance. In the outstream video space, an increasing number of clients are seeking to measure viewability, which is a good thing, but viewability verification is often activated at each layer of the funnel (primary ad servers, secondary ad servers and DSPs) resulting in having multiple levels of VPAID wrapping. The problem here is that each VPAID mediafile will parse the next VAST instead of simply loading and playing the video as the IAB Tech Lab specifies.
A solution exists and the IAB Tech Lab is already trying to tackle the issue in the VAST V4.0 specs. The code used for ad measurement should stand alone and be part of a distinct VAST element called AdVerification instead of being included in the VPAID mediafile. This alternative allows every supply side platform to implement the third party code properly and guarantee a good ad experience for the end user. Measurement companies will benefit from this as they will be able to focus on data collection without having to implement any video player ad serving feature (i.e. VAST unwrapping, mediafile selection, events tracking etc…). Recent testsbetween Integral Ad Science and Teads showed that a direct integration reduced the discrepancies drastically and provided a clean ad experience (see results here: https://teadstv.app.box.com/s/e9dkfgg397t2yx227p7rcs8wc6nz4a7r) .
The challenge will be to quickly bring together all the stakeholders to finalise the AdVerification specifications and make sure it’s properly rolled out across the ad industry.
The update to VAST 4.0 has further reaching qualities such as offering additional error codes which allow for more granular reporting and troubleshooting on delivery issues.
Bonus: What is a VAST compared to VPAID and classical video mediafiles?
VAST stands for Video Ad Serving Template, it defines an interface of communication between ad servers and video players. It provides all the information necessary for a player to run a video ad. We can have multiple layers of VASTs, called wrappers. Each layer represents an ad server in the funnel.
Inside the last wrapper, we find the mediafile, which represents the actual media element that should be loaded in the player. This mediafile is either a VPAID or a classical video file (mp4, ogg, webm etc …). Now, what is the difference between a VPAID and a classical video file and why VPAID leads more often to issues?
Let’s say the video player is a TV screen which integrates a Bluray player. This TV is owned and controlled by the supply side. The classical video file being the actual Bluray Disc, you simply load it into the TV and press play. If the TV screen is ok, everything should work properly. If not, it’s the responsibility of the supply side anyway and they have everything to troubleshoot. On the other hand, the VPAID is more than a Bluray, it is actually an entire Bluray player with a Bluray disc loaded inside. You have to plug it to your screen, press play and hope everything will work out. The truth is, since you have no access to the inside of the Bluray player, the only thing you can do is press buttons on the remote control and rely on what the player’s screen messages. VPAID stands for Video Player Ad-Serving Interface Definition and brings more freedom to creative vendors allowing them to add interactivity, tweak the video rendering and add rich media elements, but as explained it could also bring more issues. Therefore, a strict implementation of the VPAID specs is a must for a clean ad industry.
You can browse or download the IAB Hungary Digital Ad Spend Study for 2016 below.
Leading Dutch publisher One Business has appointed Improve Digital, the all-in-one video advertising platform for content providers, as its exclusive partner to roll out its programmatic strategy in The Netherlands. The premium publisher, targeted at affluent consumers, will be using Improve Digital’s holistic platform 360 Polaris for titles including Elsevier.nl, Beleggersbelangen.nl and Beurs.nl. For these titles the advertising platform will monetise the publisher’s display, mobile and video inventory. One Business is fast growing and Improve Digital will be its monetisation partner for new titles joining One Business’ portfolio.
Kiril Duovski, Programmatic Sales Manager, at One Business, says: “As our business is growing, and thus our inventory is expanding, it’s important for us to work together with a trusted, transparent, partner such as Improve Digital to work with us on our monetisation strategy.” Angela Pellaupessy, Country Manager Benelux at Improve Digital, adds: “We’re thrilled to work together with a growing premium content provider such as One Business. Quickly expanding its mark on the Dutch market, we will work together with One Business to successfully shape and implement their programmatic strategy.”
IAB Netherlands report on Online Advertising Spend 2016
The original article (in NL) is available here. You can also browse or download the report below.
Allan Sorensen is Head of Digital at Danske Medier and Chair of IAB Europe’s Policy Committee.
The views expressed by the Article 29 Working Party in its opinion on the proposed ePrivacy Regulation adopted 4 April 2017 are in blatant disregard of the very privacy and data protection laws it is tasked to enforce.
For example, the WP29 welcomes the “broad prohibitions and narrow exceptions” of the proposed ePrivacy Regulation and goes on to opine that “the introduction of open-ended exceptions along the lines of Article 6 GDPR, and in particular Art. 6(f) GDPR (legitimate interest ground), should be avoided.” The principle called into question by the WP29 in its opinion has formed part of EU data protection law since its inception, and the Court of Justice of the EU has been one of its most ardent defenders. Moreover, the legitimate interest ground has been reaffirmed by the EU legislator when it adopted the General Data Protection Regulation in 2016.
Further, the WP29’s opinion on the ePrivacy Regulation states that “take-it-or-leave-it” approaches are “rarely legitimate” when discussing the practice of website operators making access to their service conditional on the acceptance of processing based on cookies or similar devices. However, the existing ePrivacy Directive explicitly states that “[a]ccess to specific website content may still be made conditional on the well-informed acceptance of a cookie or similar device, if it is used for a legitimate purpose.” Indeed, virtually all commercial transitions today are based on“take-it-or-leave-it” making it by far the most common way of doing business today.
I call on the co-legislators to bear in mind that documents adopted by the WP29 are only an opinion and do not carry force of law. Indeed, they do not even necessarily constitute valid interpretations of the law. The WP29 is not bound – and does not attempt – to issue opinions only in accordance with the law, nor is it bound to be neutral and objective when issuing opinions on political matters, such as the proposed ePrivacy Regulation.
The data protection authorities making up the WP29 stand to gain power, resources and prestige with any additional data protection regulation. What is best for data protection authorities, is not necessarily in the best interest of the consumer. The protection of the broader best interest of the consumer does not form part of the WP29’s mandate. But it is part of the responsibility of the legislator to look out for what is best for the people who they represent. Members of the European Parliament and member state governments should not forget that most European citizens welcome and even expect the possibility of having free access to a broad variety of news, information and online services in return for agreeing to see relevant advertisements.
The latest IAB Ireland / PwC Online Adspend Study for the year ended December 2016, published on April 5, reveals growth of 31% for the Irish digital advertising market, representing a total digital spend of €445m. This comprises €231m on the mobile platform and €214m on desktop. Many consumers are now accessing the internet via mobile first and advertisers are allocating their digital budgets accordingly.
For the first time Adspend participants (Publishers and Adnetworks) have reported the percentage of display adspend that is being traded programmatically in the Irish market. Programmatic trading refers to the use of automated processes and systems in the buying and selling of advertising inventory and in 2016 it amounted to 33% of display adspend with publishers and adnetworks.
Download the full report on the IAB Ireland website here
Browse the accompanying infographic below here.
For a newcomer to the programmatic scene, an industry steeped in acronyms and specialised terminology, the task of unravelling its intricacies might seem daunting at first. The purpose of this article is to very succinctly outline the main features of the key players and tools used in real-time bidding (RTB), and to ease the transition into this field for someone with very little knowledge pertaining to it.
At the foundation of the RTB system lie the Advertiser and the Publisher. The former buys, the latter sells. The Advertiser buys inventory, a fancy word for the space the ads take on a certain page. The inventory belongs to the owner of the website, or the Publisher.
Initially, the two aforementioned entities, Advertiser (buyer) and Publisher (seller) conducted business directly. Because of the sheer volume of Publishers (to be read websites) out there, however, there was a lot of unsold inventory left over, so a huge number of those ad spaces we talked about earlier were left blank. This called for a more efficient and proficient way of doing business and going about selling inventory, a task taken up by the Ad Network. The Ad network - think of it like a convenience store - bought ad spaces (inventory) from the Publisher, packaged them according to various criteria, and sold them to the Advertisers who used them to... well, advertise their products and/or services.
Due to the relatively easy way of setting up an Ad Network and few limitations, a lot of them started cropping up, which made the whole business of finding the right package, at the right price (for both buyer and seller, mind you) that much more difficult and time-consuming. The Ad Exchange was created as a business model designed to make trading easier and quicker. It focused not on packaged inventory (sold in thousands of units using currency called Cost per Mille – or CPM), but rather on audience. So instead of selling virtual space (what an Ad Network essentially does), the Ad Exchange focused on selling the profiles of the individuals visiting the Publisher’s pages. This enabled the Advertiser to run custom-tailored ads on the Publisher’s website, which benefited all parties involved: Advertiser, Publisher, and User. Imagine, if you will, the convenience store; now picture yourself grocery shopping there and think of how much easier it would be if the store only sold what you needed. Think also of how profitable it would be for the store to be able to sell its entire (or as close to as possible) stock every single day.
So now Advertisers and Publishers could decide whether they wanted to sell and buy inventory or audience, and could choose between using the Ad Network or the Ad Exchange. The catch was that although an Ad Exchange offered a more targeted approach to buying ad space, and the Ad Network sold inventory in the millions, the whole process was still not terribly fast. Consider that the Ad Exchange functions like a Stock Exchange (thought the name was just a coincidence?); the Publishers put up audiences for sale, the Advertisers bid on the audience they want to reach, highest bid wins. Simple? Yes! Time-efficient? Not quite. Just like an actual stock exchange, split-second decisions could make the difference between scoring a great deal and missing out on one.
To streamline the entire process, some Advertisers chose to use Trading Desks or Demand-Side Platforms (DSP). Both Trading Desks and DSPs have the very easy task of using exceedingly complex algorithms to automate the trading process carried out on an Ad Exchange. This is what that real-time bidding thingamajig from the first paragraph actually is. Imagine machines into which you input a series of criteria (such as the size, shape colour and weight of the fruit you want from the convenience store for today) and it does the rest, buying (if you’re the Advertiser) what you need in the blink of an eye. But what if you wanted to sell automatically as well? If the Advertiser has a DSP at its disposal, the Publisher can use a Supply-side Platform (SSP). An SSP does for the Publisher pretty much what the DSP does for the advertiser, only instead of automating the buying process, the Publisher entrusts machines to take care of selling the inventory.
That’s pretty much it, as far as the basics of the basics go. But this is just scratching the surface. Programmatic is definitely a very complex and ever-expanding field, but it certainly doesn’t need to be a scary one, particularly now that IAB Europe created the Introduction to Programmatic Advertising course, designed to help you navigate this very hot (though quite intricate) topic. You can also watch this very informative video clip put together by IAB UK.
See you in the classroom!
This newest insight piece from comScore looks at mobile devices, categories and apps’ share of total digital time, and how this aligns with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, but also investigates areas such as:
“The dominant share of digital time represented by mobile globally highlights the need for measurement that captures all forms of digital activity on these devices” said Will Hodgman, executive vice president of international sales at comScore. “This report underlines the importance of demographics, app consumption and country-specific behavioural trends that publishers, advertisers and agencies need to effectively evaluate mobile audiences in a cross-platform world. We’re excited to expand this precise mobile measurement to even more markets throughout 2017.”
To learn more about how comScore can help you succeed in a mobile-first world, please contact them at www.comscore.com/contact or visit www.comscore.com/mobile.
The report can be downloaded from the comScore website here.
Brussels, 29 March - IAB Europe is the organiser of the Interact 2017 conference, taking place in Amsterdam on 23-24 May at the NH Collection Barbizon Palace Hotel. Today, we are releasing the consolidated Preview Programme for the two days of the conference of Interact 2017.
While this programme is not final and more updates are to be announced in the coming weeks, it aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the overall theme, the sub-themes, and the range of high-level speakers, sponsors and media partners that will make Interact 2017 a successful discussion this year.
Interact is known as the premier gathering of the digital advertising industry within the network of IAB Europe, whose mission is to be the voice of digital business and the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising ecosystem.
Every year and for eleven years running, Interact has welcomed up to 400 delegates from all over Europe and North America, ranging from Advertisers, Publishers, Ad Tech companies, Media agencies and Creative Agencies.
In 2017, the stage will be filled with global thought leaders like Nicola Mendelsohn, Vice President EMEA at Facebook, Nicolas Bidon, Global President at Xaxis, Jeffrey Cole, Founder at Director of the Center for the Digital Future and John Montgomery, EVP Global Brand Safety at GroupM, and many others. Their voices will lead the way to a set of insights that are unprecedented in the array of digital marketing events in Europe.
Advertisers, publishers, creative agencies and ad tech leaders will discuss and share their expertise on this year’s top-of-mind challenges and opportunities for the digital advertising sector. Together, they will find common grounds that will set the tone for the coming year.
This year’s programme is articulated around the overall theme: The New Rules of Engagement, and four additional sub-themes covering:
To view the Interact 2017 Preview Programme, click here or download below.
The Interact 2017 conference is supported by the following sponsors:
And the following Media Partners :
Note: The Early Bird rate is extended until 18 April. Click HERE to register and book your tickets.
About IAB Europe
IAB Europe is the leading European-level industry association for the online advertising ecosystem. Its mission is to promote the development of this innovative sector and ensure its sustainability by shaping the regulatory environment, demonstrating the value digital advertising brings to Europe’s economy, to consumers and to the market, and developing and facilitating the uptake of harmonised business practices that take account of changing user expectations and enable digital brand advertising to scale in Europe.
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