We are excited to introduce the newly appointed leads of our Programmatic Working Group within the Advertising and Media Committee. As the programmatic landscape continues to shift, their leadership will play a key role in guiding the group’s work, supporting industry alignment, strengthening standards, and addressing both current challenges and future opportunities.
Petri Kokkonen, CEO, Relevant Digital (representing IAB Finland)
We are pleased to welcome Petri Kokkonen, CEO of Relevant Digital, as Co-Lead of the Programmatic Working Group, representing IAB Finland.
Petri leads a sell-side SaaS and services company powering publishers across 21 countries in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. With over 20 years of involvement in the IAB ecosystem, he has played an active role in shaping industry initiatives, including representing IAB Finland on the IAB Europe Board and contributing to several working groups, most recently focused on Programmatic and AI. He continues to support IAB Finland as a Board Member.
Petri’s long-standing engagement and deep understanding of the European programmatic ecosystem position him to play an integral role in steering the group’s agenda, particularly in advancing a sustainable and diverse marketplace.
Commenting on his new role, Petri said: “I’m really excited to step into this shared role with Ralf, and I know that the whole IAB Finland team shares my enthusiasm. There is so much going on in the programmatic landscape right now, AI impacting every corner of the ecosystem. We need to do all we can to support local companies to navigate changes and continue to thrive, whether we're talking about buyers, sellers, or intermediaries.”
Ralf Ollig, VP Product, Sportradar
We are also pleased to welcome Ralf Ollig, VP Product at Sportradar, as Co-Lead of the Programmatic Working Group.
Ralf leads the development of data-driven sports advertising solutions across Programmatic, Paid Social, Search, and Audience Strategy within Sportradar. With over 15 years of experience in programmatic advertising, including roles at YouTube and as founder of a video-focused DSP, he brings strong expertise in building scalable, innovative advertising solutions.
Operating at the intersection of sports, data, and advertising, Ralf brings a forward-looking perspective to the group’s work. His experience will be key in shaping discussions around emerging channels, ever-changing supply-side dynamics, and the role of data in driving programmatic innovation.
Commenting on his new role, Ralf said: “As a long-time consumer of the IAB’s great work, I’ve seen firsthand the impact strong standards can have on our industry. I’m honoured to now step into the Co-Lead role alongside Petri at such a pivotal time. I’m looking forward to helping brands, publishers, tech platforms, and ultimately consumers navigate increasing complexity, while giving back to a community I’ve learned so much from, and continuing to learn together as we push the industry forward.”
The Programmatic Working Group supports stakeholders in navigating the programmatic landscape, addressing both core market dynamics and emerging trends.
The group focuses on driving collaboration and practical guidance across the ecosystem, with key priorities including:
Interested in contributing to the future of programmatic in Europe? Visit our website or contact the team at communication [at] iabeurope.eu to get involved.
Retail Media continues to mature at pace, bringing with it new opportunities and complexities for retailers, brands, and agencies alike. One of the most pressing dynamics shaping this space is the relationship between trade and media: how they intersect, where they diverge, and what the future holds.
To explore this, IAB Europe launched a five-part content series unpacking the convergence and coexistence of trade and media in Retail Media. Across expert insights, industry perspectives, and real-world case studies, the series highlights both the progress made and the challenges that remain.
Here’s a recap of the full series:
Developed in collaboration with IAB U.S, the series begins by defining the fundamental differences between trade and media, exploring how each has traditionally operated within retail environments. It sets the foundation for understanding why convergence is both appealing and complex.
Part two highlights how organisational silos between trade and media - driven by separate budgets, KPIs, and team structures - are limiting Retail Media’s full potential. It makes the case for greater alignment and budget fluidity, while acknowledging that structural and commercial complexities continue to slow progress.
While the first two pieces examined the challenge through a business and operational lens, the next layer is accounting. This explainer clarifies what’s actually possible within current accounting practices and outlines considerations shaping how different CMNs report, classify, and interpret their revenue.
This case study illustrates how one organisation made a decisive move to bring all media functions under a single roof. This is not presented as a universal blueprint or a recommendation, but rather as a thought‐starter for your exploration.
The final instalment completes the picture by bringing in the brand perspective, offering a nuanced view of how advertisers are navigating this landscape. It explores how a brand is navigating the developing relationship between trade and media, offering a candid perspective on the realities of convergence.
Commenting on the series, IAB Europe’s Retail Media Consultant, Yara Daher, said:
“This series is intended to spark industry dialogue. Trade and media have coexisted for years, but we need to think about them more cohesively. The tech that enables growth is crucial, but the organisational and commercial changes are equally—if not more—transformational for the industry.”
Get Involved
For more information on our Retail and Commerce Media work and how you can get involved, visit our Retail Media Hub here or get in touch with our Industry Development & Insights Director, Marie-Clare Puffett at puffett [at] iabeurope.eu.
Hear direct from broadcasters, brands and tech providers at the CTV Summit in London next month. Speakers from Channel 4, Netflix, Sky Media and ITV are set to help shape the agenda at the event, billed as a premier gathering for those with commercial intent in the connected TV ecosystem. It’s the forum where broadcasters and platform operators meet retailers, brands, agencies, as well as technology and service providers to explore how the channel is set to be shaped for the future as consumers turn to digital-first TV.
CTV Summit, part of RetailX Events’ Commerce Media Festival on 14th May, is set to welcome a strictly limited 200 attendees to Convene, London. Delegates at the event, which covers connected TV, OTT (over the top TV) and streaming and is supported by keynote sponsor Vidaa, will hear direct from leaders in this fast-growing industry with actionable insights on how to make their brand the centre of attention. The event promises to bring together broadcasters, brands and budgets in connected TV – the premier data source in broadcasting.
“CTV is coming into view for retail, digital and brand marketers as a cost‑effective performance channel that earns its place in the media plan,” says Ian Jindal, RetailX founder. “The CTV Summit is where marketers who grew up on search, social and retail media get hands‑on with TV’s reach, data and shoppability. It’s where TV, retail media and ecommerce start to look like one connected growth strategy.”
The CTV Summit 2026 opens on 14th May at 08.00 BST for registration and runs until 16.00, closing with a networking session. Highlights of the event, supported by keynote sponsor Vidaa, include a case study from Back Market’s Luke Forshaw on how the brand used CTV to reshape the narrative about refurbished tech. Later, ITV Director of Advanced Advertising, Rhys Mclachlan, Thinkbox CEO Lindsey Clay and Philip Gontier of Smadex join Ian Jindal for a discussion around the findings of the RetailX Connected TV 2026 report.
Netflix’s Brogane Colclough will make a presentation before Alex Wright of Channel 4, Ben O’Mahoney of Ocado Retail and David Sanderson of Sky Media join to discuss integrating CTV into commerce. Vidaa CEO Guy Edri explore how brands and retailers can use data to plan and run smarter campaigns across CTV, learning from behavioural insights.
“If you want to meet the broadcasters, platforms and retail media leaders who are turning CTV into a measurable sales channel, this is the room to be in,” says RetailX’s Jindal. “The CTV Summit is built as a working meeting. You sit with broadcasters, retailers and agencies who are rewriting the commercial rules of television in real time. For broadcasters and agencies, CTV Summit will be where they meet a new wave of clients who think in ROAS, incrementality and first‑party data. For marketers, it is TV that behaves like digital.”
Mark Pigou, RetailX founder and event organiser, adds: “The CTV Summit brings broadcasters, streamers, retailers, brands and agencies into one room to talk about money, measurement and where the growth really is. We have designed the day around conversations. Short sessions, high‑calibre panels and plenty of time for one‑to‑one meetings and networking.
This summit sits at the point where TV, streaming and commerce meet. That mix is why the event has grown so quickly, and why the right people clear their diaries for it. If you are serious about Connected TV, you cannot watch it from the sidelines. You need to be in London, listening, questioning and meeting the people who are making it happen.”
Commerce Media Festival
The CTV Summit is part of RetailX Events’ Commerce Media Festival. Three events are colocated on the same day, with Retail MediaX Europe 2026 and the FMCG Summit taking place alongside the CTV Summit. Delegate passes give access to all sessions at all three events, giving visitors the choice and opportunity to find the content that answers all their questions.
RetailX’s Pigou says: “The CTV Summit is part of the wider Commerce Media Festival. One ticket gives you access to the CTV conversations and the wider retail media and FMCG debates on the same day.”
After the event ends, industry stars will head off to London’s highest venue, Horizon 22 – at 22 Bishopsgate – for the Retail MediaX Awards.
Find out more about CTV Summit 2026 here, explore the agenda here, and register to attend here.
If programmatic advertising is on your radar this year, this is one event you won’t want to miss.
We’ve officially revealed the first speakers and full agenda for our Virtual Programmatic Day (VPD) 2026, taking place on 29th April at 12:00 CET, and it promises to bring together the most important conversations shaping the future of programmatic.
The hybrid event, hosted by Google, will combine live-streamed panels with a limited in-person audience in London, creating a dynamic forum to explore innovation, transparency, and growth across the programmatic ecosystem. Whether you plan to join us online or in London, you can secure your place here: register for virtual attendance and apply for in-person participation to be part of the conversation shaping the future of programmatic advertising.
Please note: Exclusive in-person access for IAB Europe Members only; limited capacity, confirmation required.
Programmatic continues to scale across channels and formats, from CTV and in-app to audio, DOOH, and retail media, but with growth comes complexity.
Challenges around supply chain transparency, AI-driven optimisation, measurement, and monetisation are no longer theoretical; they are urgent, practical, and happening right now.
VPD 2026 takes a comprehensive approach: rather than presenting a single viewpoint, the event brings together leading voices from across the ecosystem to challenge assumptions, share insights, and explore actionable strategies for 2026 and beyond.
The event’s agenda reflects the diversity of today’s programmatic landscape, offering panels and showcases designed to highlight emerging trends and practical solutions:
CTV, Now in Colour
CTV continues to expand at pace, bringing both opportunity and complexity. Industry leaders will discuss the challenges of measurement, data transparency, inventory fragmentation, and evolving viewer behaviour, while exploring how advertisers, agencies, and platforms can unlock the channel’s full potential.
The Growth Algorithm
Programmatic growth in 2026 is being driven by AI, new data frameworks, and expanding channels. Experts will unpack the technologies and strategies redefining campaign performance and ecosystem evolution.
Show Me the Monetisation
As media demand changes, what does it mean for publisher revenue? This session will explore changing inventory dynamics, buying modes, and monetisation strategies, helping publishers navigate the next phase of programmatic profitability.
The event will be hosted by the Advertising & Media Committee Chair, Wayne Tassie, Group Director, Netherlands, DoubleVerify.
He will be joined by a strong line-up of industry leaders spanning advertisers, publishers, and technology providers, including:
Programmatic is moving fast, but its future is still being defined.
Whether you plan to attend virtually or in person in London, view the event here and secure your spot today:
Stay ahead of the trends, explore actionable strategies, and be part of the conversations shaping programmatic advertising in 2026.
On 19th March, IAB Europe organised a roundtable discussion on the Digital Omnibus proposal, focusing on how to protect users’ privacy while ensuring simpler and more effective rules for businesses. The discussion brought together EU policymakers and industry representatives to exchange views on the proposed reforms to cookie rules (Article 88a) and the introduction of centralised consent mechanisms (Article 88b).
The first session focused on the proposed reform of cookie rules under Article 88a. Participants welcomed the proposal’s aim to reduce consent fatigue and simplify rules for business, but argued that the current proposal falls short of that and instead introduces legal uncertainty and complexity.
The second session examined the concept of centralised consent under Article 88b and its potential implications. Participants discussed whether centralised consent tools could effectively reduce consent fatigue, while also raising concerns about their legal, technical, and economic feasibility.
The discussion concluded with a recognition that the proposal is still in its early stages, and that further work is needed to ensure that the Digital Omnibus delivers on its objective of simplification without unintended consequences. Participants called for continued dialogue to explore workable solutions and a better understanding of the practical implications of proposed measures.
The roundtable featured interventions from Valda Beizitere, Policy and Legal Officer in the Data Protection Unit at DG JUST; Mads Vigsø Bendsen, Tech and Media Attaché at the Permanent Representation of Denmark to the EU; Francesco Bondi, Manager for EU Government Relations at eBay; and Jacob Dexe, Public Affairs Manager at IAB Sweden and Chair of the IAB Europe Policy Committee. Both sessions were expertly moderated by Lorelien Hoet, Director of EU Government Affairs, Microsoft.
IAB Europe’s key takeaways from the event include:
Access IAB Europe’s position paper on the Digital Omnibus here.
On 29th April at 12:00 CET / 11:00 BST, our Virtual Programmatic Day (VPD) 2026 returns, bringing together industry leaders to explore the forces shaping the next chapter of programmatic advertising.
The event will take place in a hybrid format, offering attendees the flexibility to join online or attend in person in London. The full programme will be live-streamed directly from Google’s London office, creating a dynamic setting where in-person energy meets a fully connected virtual audience.
For those joining on-site, it’s a unique opportunity to engage face-to-face with industry peers, speakers, and partners. Virtual attendees can tune in to the same high-quality discussions from anywhere.
In just under two hours, the agenda cuts straight to the issues that matter most right now, offering practical insight, honest discussion, and perspectives from across the ecosystem.
So, what will you take away from this year’s programme?
CTV continues to attract investment, but behind the growth, real challenges are emerging.
At VPD, the conversation will move beyond hype to focus on what’s really happening in the CTV ecosystem:
If you’re investing in (or planning to invest in) CTV, this is a chance to understand how to navigate the complexity and unlock its full potential.
Everyone is talking about growth, but what’s genuinely powering it?
This year’s agenda brings together experts to unpack the real drivers behind programmatic’s next phase, including:
More importantly, the discussion will go beyond trends, focusing on how these changes translate into actionable strategies for buyers, sellers, and tech providers.
For publishers, monetisation is becoming more complex and more critical.
As demand evolves, so do the expectations around how inventory is packaged, priced, and traded. At Virtual Programmatic Day, the conversation will explore:
Whether you’re on the sell-side or buy-side, understanding these shifts is key to staying competitive.
Alongside the panel discussions, the agenda includes a case study spotlight, offering a closer look at how companies are putting these strategies into practice.This is where the conversation moves from industry-level trends to real execution, giving you tangible examples you can apply to your own approach.
This year’s programme brings together senior voices from across the ecosystem. First confirmed speakers include:
Paul Gubbins, CTV Lead, Exchange Platforms, EMEA, Google
Nikunj Sureka, Senior Director, Product, Verve
Lisa Kalyuzhny, VP of Sales, EMEA, Nexxen
Mara Negri, SVP Global Media Agencies, MFE Advertising
Broadcast live from Google’s London office, these speakers will share perspectives from across platforms, media owners, and technology, ensuring a well-rounded and practical discussion.
Whether you choose to attend in person in London or join virtually, Virtual Programmatic Day 2026 offers a focused, high-impact way to stay on top of the changes shaping programmatic right now.
👉 Register to join us in-person here (for IAB Europe Members)
👉 Secure your spot to join us virtually here
IAB Europe Launches RFP for the development of new compliance workflow capabilities within the IAB Europe Vendor and CMP Management Portal.
IAB Europe is pleased to invite qualified technology providers to respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the development of new compliance workflow capabilities within the IAB Europe Vendor and CMP Management Portal, supporting the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF).
As part of the ongoing expansion of the TCF compliance programmes, IAB Europe is seeking to enhance its existing registration and administration platform with additional tools to support compliance tracking, audit management, and operational enforcement workflows.
The initial scope of this project includes:
The portal is a modern React / .NET application, hosted on AWS in the EU, and the new functionality will be developed in alignment with existing UX patterns and architecture.
IAB Europe welcomes proposals from experienced development partners with expertise in:
Interested organisations are invited to request the full RFP documentation and submission instructions by contacting:
Email: tcf.compliance [at] iabeurope.eu
Proposal Submission Deadline: 30th April, 2026
IAB Europe looks forward to engaging with qualified bidders to support this important enhancement to the TCF compliance programme.
Across Europe, thousands of online publishers depend on advertising to monetise their content. Although advertising revenue is often complemented by subscriptions and other income streams, it remains a primary mechanism enabling many publishers to provide content free of charge and sustain an open internet ecosystem.
However, the browsing behaviour underpinning this model, whereby users visit publisher websites to access content and become monetisable audiences, is evolving.
Following the deployment of AI-driven applications, including chatbots and search engine results page (SERP) summarisation features, publishers across Europe have reported declines in both traffic and advertising revenue. Two substitution dynamics appear particularly relevant:
Together, these developments suggest a structural shift in how users discover and consume digital content.
Despite growing attention to these dynamics, there is currently no quantitative consensus on their scale or economic impact within Europe.
Available evidence ranges from self-reported publisher metrics to aggregated indicators released by companies such as content delivery networks and analytics providers. Yet these signals must be interpreted within a highly dynamic digital environment.
Understanding the full extent of substitution effects requires visibility beyond publisher-owned data. Changes in traffic may reflect not only displacement, but also evolving user behaviour, including potential increases in certain query types driven by the expanding utility of AI-enabled services.
Accordingly, the analysis presented here should be understood as an early contribution to an evolving evidence base rather than a definitive assessment.
As part of a broader initiative examining content ingestion in the development and deployment of AI applications, IAB Europe sourced traffic data from a vendor with technology deployed on European web properties.
This report draws on a substantial sample of traffic data from hundreds of European websites that rely on advertising for at least a portion of their funding. While not exhaustive of the European publishing landscape, the dataset provides directional insight into emerging traffic patterns and helps establish a foundation for future research within the IAB Europe Publisher Content & AI Task Force.
We begin by examining changes in overall traffic composition to better understand how AI-enabled discovery is reshaping publisher traffic. The comparison below highlights how the relative contribution of major acquisition channels has evolved over the past year.
Disaggregating search referrals by property category reveals that this shift is not uniform. Some verticals have experienced pronounced declines in search-driven traffic, while others appear comparatively resilient or have grown their share.
This divergence suggests that substitution effects associated with AI-enabled discovery may be influencing content types differently. Categories heavily aligned with informational queries appear more exposed, whereas others may benefit from stronger brand affinity, habitual consumption, or alternative discovery pathways.
One emerging factor in this evolving discovery landscape is referral traffic generated directly by AI applications. Although still small in relative terms, AI referrals are now observable across multiple publisher categories, possibly indicating the early formation of a new acquisition channel.
Although AI referrals are observable within the dataset, their scale remains marginal and does not yet constitute a meaningful source of publisher traffic. At present, traffic losses appear to exceed the traffic generated by AI applications and features. Accordingly, AI should not yet be interpreted as a material traffic channel for publishers.
The data indicates that search continues to play a central role in publisher discovery, despite a modest year-on-year decline in its share. By contrast, AI referrals remain negligible in scale. At present, changes in publisher traffic appear driven primarily by adjustments within traditional channels rather than by the emergence of AI as a meaningful source of audience.
AI is rapidly reshaping Commerce Media. This Q&A with experts from our Retail & Commerce Media Committee explores how it is already delivering measurable value - from real‑time intent understanding and dynamic bidding to predictive audience building and multi‑agent workflow automation. Retailers and advertisers are beginning to overcome long‑standing challenges around data fragmentation and operational complexity, with AI enabling smarter planning, faster execution, and more relevant customer experiences. The shift from static segments to real‑time signals, alongside the rise of conversational interfaces and synthetic audiences, is setting a new standard for efficiency and performance.
Looking ahead, the next 12 months will bring even more transformative change. Advances such as multi‑agent orchestration, natural language “talk to your data” platforms, Bayesian measurement, and interoperability standards like MCP promise to eliminate operational bloat and unlock new strategic capabilities. Yet our experts stress that sustainable growth depends on strong governance, clean data, and user trust. As AI accelerates creative production, optimisation, and measurement, the industry must balance automation with oversight to ensure AI enhances - rather than overwhelms - the teams and brands that rely on it.
A big thank you to the following contributors for sharing their thoughts:
Diana Abebrese, Global Retail Media Lead, Empathy Lab by EPAM
James Taylor, Founder & CEO, Particular Audience
James: "Right now, AI in commerce media is driving what I call the Tripartite Win: it delivers efficiency and ROAS for advertisers, drives yield and monetisation for retailers, and most importantly, ensures absolute relevance and a better experience for the customer. But to understand its effectiveness, we have to stop grouping all AI into one bucket and define the spectrum: Statistical, Machine Learning (ML), Predictive, and Generative.
Where we are seeing the most immediate and effective value today is in the transition from static segments to real-time signals.
Diana: "This is a pivotal moment in commerce media - retailers and advertisers can see how AI can resolve the challenges they have been facing for many years around operational complexity, data and technical fragmentation and lack of standardisation. AI promises to deliver outcomes that are smarter, faster and easier, and we are seeing early adoption and delivery of real business value in 3 key areas:
Diana: "Orchestration is one of those overused words in retail media. What we really mean is how we can reduce the number of processes and platforms involved in a typical commerce media campaign lifecycle, and how we can standardise both data inputs and data outputs in order to reduce cognitive workload and duplication of efforts. - cross platform; cross-channel; cross-retailer; cross-team. Optimisation opportunities to streamline and accelerate processes come with multi-agentic workflows powered by LLMs and API connectors. Pollen by Sainsbury's is a great example of how this can work well. Getting this right requires future-facing planning, data hygiene and process optimisation. Not to mention user-friendly and intuitive user interfaces!"
James: "The biggest opportunity over the next year is eradicating operational bloat. AdOps has historically been weighed down by manual campaign setup and fragmented platforms, but we are entering an era of true, agentic orchestration.
The massive catalyst here is MCP (Model Context Protocol). For the audience less familiar, MCP is an open standard that securely connects generative AI models to local data sources. It effectively shortcuts what used to take months of dedicated, brittle API integrations into a process that takes mere minutes.
Functional Ad Units: Technologies like Retail-MCP are enabling the creation of dynamic, functional apps, and we believe functional ad units will follow, on the fly, for retailers and their brands. This shift will drastically reduce the cognitive load on AdOps teams, freeing them from manual data entry to focus on high-level strategy."
Diana: "I expect to see the industry embracing AI in order to make things faster, smarter and easier. Multi-agentic solutions, natural language models and generative AI will start to power commerce media capabilities cross-retailer and cross-channel. We will see a huge rise in Talk to your Data platforms - informing media planning decision-making, creative processes, real-time optimisation strategies and measurement and insight capabilities - satisfying many of the demands coming from the market At Empathy Lab we are seeing growing demand for our Synthetic Audience solutions - creating “customer” panels for testing of new products, promotions and creative concepts at scale, with Mars reporting over 75% accuracy of results, when compared with scores from human panels."
James: "Measurement and predictive modelling are about to undergo a radical transformation. As an industry, retail faces a massive multi-objective optimisation problem. "Incrementality" is the buzzword, but we have to ask: incrementality of what?
Over the next 12 months, the most transformative trends will be:
James: "When it comes to unleashing AI, my favourite word internally at Particular Audience is Governance. The fear of losing control over generative creative at hyper-scale is a massive barrier to AI adoption, which is exactly why we haven't all just handed the keys over to an autonomous agent to run our businesses.
To unlock sustainable growth, the industry must address governance head-on by splitting our approaches to Predictive versus Generative AI:
Ultimately, governance ensures we are using AI to solve actual problems, rather than just rapidly automating our mistakes.
Diana: "At a micro level, we see a high level of cynicism within companies. Whilst users recognise personal benefits when using AI at work and at home, they need to feel empowered and in control of their interactions with AI business tools before fully embracing them. User research and consultation to define use cases alongside a measured roll-out process and feedback loop will be instrumental in overcoming these challenges."
If Retail and Commerce Media are on your radar this year, this is one virtual event you’ll want to have firmly in your calendar.
We have officially revealed the first speakers and full agenda for our latest Great Debate on Retail Media, and it’s set to bring together some of the most important conversations shaping the future of the space.
Taking place on 21st April at 14:00 CET, the event will gather senior leaders from across the ecosystem for a fast-paced, interactive session designed not just to inform, but to challenge, provoke, and move the industry forward.
Retail Media continues to attract significant investment and attention, but with that growth comes increasing complexity.
From fragmentation and measurement challenges to the rapid rise of AI and developing retailer-brand dynamics, the industry is at a pivotal moment. The questions are no longer theoretical; they’re practical, urgent, and in many cases, unresolved.
That’s exactly why this event takes a different approach.
Rather than presenting a single viewpoint, The Great Debate puts contrasting perspectives head-to-head, creating space for open discussion on the issues that matter most.
This year’s agenda has been designed to reflect the breadth of today’s Retail Media landscape. Covering topics related to the work of our Retail & Commerce Media Committee, topics include:
The AI‑Powered Retail Media Supply Chain: From Insight to Activation
An exploration into how AI is reshaping personalisation, bidding, and ad operations. Panellists will also discuss measurement challenges, like incrementality and the rise of synthetic audiences.
The Convergence and Coexistence of Trade and Media
Speakers will tackle one of the most pressing strategic questions in modern Retail Media: should trade and media functions converge into a unified discipline, or remain distinct to preserve their unique value? Expect a lively, structured exchange as experts argue both sides.
Measurement, Transparency, and Standardisation
Discover what’s new in Version 2 of our Measurement Standards, including enhanced guidance designed to drive greater consistency, comparability, and confidence across the ecosystem. We’ll also introduce the new Flexi Formats framework and offer a forward view into the roadmap for Version 3.
Programmatic On-Site: Unlocking Scale
Finally, speakers will dive into how programmatic on-site advertising is unlocking new scale for Retail Media, enabling both endemic and non-endemic brands to reach high-intent audiences.
The event will be hosted by our Retail & Commerce Media Committee Chairs:
They’ll be joined by a strong line-up of industry leaders, including:
Selen Ozkan, Head of CPG & Retail EMEA, Uber Advertising
Paul Dahill, Managing Director of EMEA Sales, Koddi
Polina Melnikova, Strategic Growth Director, Moloco Commerce Media
James Taylor, Founder and CEO, Particular Audience
Lisa Avery, Director of Customer Success EMEA, Zitcha
Mazen Mroueh, Head of Retail Media & Partnerships, Publicis Media
With perspectives spanning retailers, agencies, and ad tech, the discussions promise to reflect the full diversity of the ecosystem.
Retail Media is moving quickly, but its future is still being defined.
If you’re looking to stay ahead of the key trends, understand different perspectives, and be part of the conversations shaping the European market, this is where it happens.
Explore the full agenda and view the speaker line-up here.
And if you can’t attend live, be sure to register, as the recording will be shared with all registrants after the event.
Connected TV (CTV) is rapidly becoming a measurable, performance‑driving channel, and this Q&A with experts from our CTV Working Group explores how advances in cross‑device attribution, privacy‑safe audience frameworks, programmatic access, and attention‑based measurement are enabling advertisers to link big‑screen exposure to real outcomes. While fragmentation, shared‑device viewing, and inconsistent identifiers still complicate attribution, CTV is proving highly effective when used within coordinated omnichannel strategies that pair high‑attention storytelling with downstream retargeting and search lift. Looking ahead, the group expects CTV’s conversion role to strengthen as interoperability improves, attribution windows mature, and data connections deepen, positioning CTV as a hybrid brand‑plus‑performance channel within the modern media mix.
A big thank you to the following contributors for sharing their thoughts:
Ekaterina Vagner, Marketing Director - EMEA, Verve
Samir Chabab, VP Global Marketing, Ogury
Michael Möller, CTO, Visoon Video Impact, Digital Video Working Group Chair, BVDW
Andreas Hamdorf, Lead Strategic Partner Management, esome advertising technologies for BVDW
Todd Randak, GM, CTV, DoubleVerify
Samir - "CTV is no longer just an awareness channel. It’s becoming a measurable, outcome-driven environment that can support real performance objectives. Advances in cross-device measurement have improved the industry’s ability to understand how audiences move across screens. Rather than depending solely on device-level identifiers, advertisers are increasingly working with privacy-safe audience frameworks that provide a more consistent view of exposure and outcomes. At the same time, planning approaches are shifting from individual tracking to broader audience cohorts. With the development of attention metrics, incrementality testing, and brand lift studies, CTV can now be assessed not just on reach, but on its measurable contribution to business results."
Ekaterina - "The biggest unlock has been measurement catching up with behaviour. Mobile Measurement Partners can now connect a CTV exposure to downstream app installs and actions using household-level signals and cross-device graphs. That makes CTV measurable in a way that looks far more like mobile attribution than traditional TV reporting. Programmatic access also changed the game. Buyers can transact impression by impression, optimise toward outcomes, and feed campaign data back into predictive models. Add better integrations across DSPs, OEMs, and measurement platforms, and CTV is no longer a blind spot. It is an addressable environment with traceable influence."
Todd - "CTV’s evolution from brand channel to performance driver is being powered by stronger measurement foundations and better ways to connect ad exposure to real-world outcomes. Advertisers can increasingly link a streaming ad viewed on a TV screen to actions taken later, such as website visits, app downloads, or purchases. Improvements in cross-device matching, combined with integration into broader measurement frameworks, are helping marketers understand CTV’s role alongside other channels. Just as importantly, impression-level verification ensures ads are delivered in quality environments, giving advertisers confidence that reported conversions are based on trusted media exposure. Together, these advancements allow CTV to prove impact with the rigour marketers expect from digital channels."
Andreas - "CTV can be purchased via DSPs and measured via ad servers or special measurement providers. This enables the connection of advertising contacts with website visits, app downloads, lead and conversion tracking, as we know them from digital advertising contacts. Some providers also offer the option of using data clean rooms to compare conversions on websites with advertising contacts on streaming services using hashed email addresses."
Michael - "With a clean measurement and tracking setup, CTV evolves from a pure awareness channel into a true performance driver. This requires cross-device attribution, search lift and conversion lift measurement, the use of QR codes or vanity URLs, and first-party data for precise audience targeting. Without this infrastructure, CTV remains positioned in the upper funnel. With it, however, CTV becomes measurable, optimisable, and performance-relevant."
Andreas - "Depending on how users view content on CTV, e.g., via FAST, BVOD, or AVOD, identifiers that enable clear attribution of the conversion to the advertising contact are not always available. A CTV big screen device, for example, is often located in a household where different people live. The person in front of the TV screen is not always the same person who operates the digital device used to make the purchase. As a result, many CTV conversion measurements are currently still based on IP addresses and ID matching using household graphs. In Germany, we also face the challenge that private IP addresses are constantly changing, which makes it even more difficult to assign identifiers that belong to different devices in the same household with a time delay."
Todd - "Despite advancements in measurement, attribution remains the primary friction point. Streaming ads are often viewed on shared household devices, while conversions typically occur on personal devices like smartphones or laptops. Limited cross-device visibility, restricted data sharing in closed platforms, and inconsistent standards make it difficult to see the full customer journey. Opaque buying paths can further reduce confidence in reported results. Attribution for CTV, just like all other channels, continues to be an imperfect science. But without transparency into where ads ran and how they were delivered, advertisers cannot confidently test, learn, and validate CTV’s true impact."
Samir - "The biggest challenge is fragmentation. Audiences move across platforms and devices, but measurement often remains siloed. Signals between CTV and other environments are not always consistent, and there is still no universal standard for attribution or performance metrics. As a result, it can be difficult to connect reach and attention on the TV screen with measurable conversion outcomes. Many advertisers struggle to build a clear, end-to-end view of performance across screens. Addressing this requires more unified audience approaches and privacy-safe measurement frameworks that can operate consistently across environments. Without that coherence, CTV risks being measured in isolation rather than as part of the broader consumer journey."
Ekaterina - "CTV does not behave like click-based media, and treating it that way leads to frustration. The user journey is longer, often spanning several days, which means short attribution windows miss real impact. Signal density is also lighter. Bid requests carry limited identifiers, so optimisation leans on modelling rather than deterministic tracking. Many brands still overvalue contextual signals meant for brand safety rather than performance outcomes. Then there is fragmentation. Not every platform integrates cleanly with measurement stacks, creating partial visibility unless the tech ecosystem is carefully aligned from the start."
Michael - "Realistically, CTV is rarely a last-click hero. Its strength lies in acting as a demand generator that improves the efficiency of downstream performance channels. Many performance teams observe increasing ROAS in search, decreasing CPAs due to stronger pre-qualification, and measurable brand lift. CTV therefore does not operate in isolation but functions as a multiplier within a holistic media mix."
Samir - "CTV tends to be most effective when it plays a defined role within a broader omnichannel strategy. The big screen is powerful for driving awareness and consideration through high-impact storytelling, while other digital environments often support retargeting and conversion. It works particularly well when messaging and audience strategy are aligned across screens. When exposure on CTV is reinforced through complementary digital touchpoints, brands can guide consumers along a more coherent path from discovery to action. Rather than acting as a standalone conversion channel, CTV proves most effective when it contributes to a coordinated, full-funnel approach that connects brand impact with measurable outcomes."
Andreas - "CTV is suitable for conversion campaigns when promoting a product or offer that users can easily remember, or that is highly relevant to the viewer. Some users pause the stream and may respond briefly to a QR code or other call to action. But the majority of users need to remember the commercial, which must be relevant to them. They then visit the provider's website at a later time, or ideally while streaming on their smartphone or tablet.
The less the ad competes for users' attention, the greater the chance of ad recall and impact. That's why we recommend CTV providers to our customers who currently have a relatively low number of commercials in an ad block and whose ad blocks are no longer than 120 seconds."
Michael - "CTV generates particularly highlevels of attention due to the large screen and lean-back viewing environment. This level of attention often translates into downstream user action, such as branded search volume increases, direct traffic rises, app installs grow, and conversions occur later on mobile or desktop devices. Many performance teams observe increasing ROAS in search, decreasing CPAs due to stronger pre-qualification, and measurable brand lift."
Todd - "CTV is proving most effective as a conversion platform when it’s activated as a true full-funnel channel. A well-targeted, contextually relevant streaming ad can build brand equity while simultaneously driving consideration and action, particularly as interactive and shoppable formats gain traction. Retail, direct-to-consumer, and app-based brands are seeing strong performance when CTV is integrated into broader cross-screen strategies and measured against outcome-based KPIs. However, success depends on consistent cross-funnel measurement. When advertisers can verify media quality and connect exposure to real results, they no longer have to choose between brand impact and performance–they can achieve both."
Todd - "For years, CTV earned its place as a premium brand-building environment. What will define its next phase is the industry’s ability to scale existing technology and apply content-level data to consistently connect on-screen exposure to measurable business outcomes with transparency. As marketers shift from reach and frequency toward metrics like sales and customer acquisition, channels that can demonstrate incremental impact will win performance budgets. That requires clearer cross-channel measurement, stronger data connections between devices, and greater transparency into how and where ads are delivered. CTV has the audience quality and engagement to drive results, providing that impact with rigour and transparency will shape its role moving forward."
Ekaterina - "Execution discipline will matter more than innovation hype. The winners will be those who align supply paths, measurement frameworks, and creative specifically for performance goals instead of repurposing brand playbooks. Expect better standardisation of integrations, longer and more realistic attribution models, and closer collaboration between buyers, DSPs, and supply partners to curate inventory around outcomes. As more mobile first advertisers test and scale, CTV will settle into a hybrid identity. Not replacing brand advertising, but operating alongside it as a measurable, programmatic channel that drives both attention and acquisition."
Samir - "Over the next 12–24 months, CTV’s role will be defined by merging brand and performance measurement within privacy-first frameworks. Persona-based planning, consistent cross-screen activation, and attention-driven metrics will allow advertisers to evaluate the quality of engagement. Programmatic accessibility and improved interoperability between CTV, mobile, and desktop will further reduce fragmentation. With budgets shifting from linear TV to digital environments, CTV will increasingly operate as both an upper- and mid-funnel driver, capable of generating measurable consideration and conversion signals while sustaining long-term brand impact."
Andreas - "If we manage to define a uniform basis of identifiers that we can use to link advertising contacts on the CTV big screen with subsequent purchases on the website or in the app, measurability and thus demand for conversion campaigns will increase. The use of data clean rooms may also be an option, provided that CTV providers and advertisers are willing to match their conversion data on such a platform. However, this will only be relevant for CTV providers who have user data from subscriptions themselves."
Michael - "Compared to traditional linear TV, CTV offers significant advantages: granular household and audience targeting, frequency control, real-time optimisation, and clearer conversion measurability. Strategically, CTV sits between traditional TV, which primarily delivers reach, and performance channels such as paid social and paid search, which are optimised for efficiency and direct response. CTV therefore does not operate in isolation but functions as a multiplier within a holistic media mix."
Explore more of our CTV work on our Knowledge Hub and reach out to Marie-Clare Puffett at puffett [at] iabeurope.eu to learn how you can participate, contribute, and share your expertise in the Working Group.
Brussels, Belgium, 4th March 2026 - IAB Europe, the European-level industry association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem, today announced its fourth annual State of Readiness - Sustainability in Digital Advertising Report, providing a comprehensive overview of how the European digital advertising ecosystem is progressing across environmental and social sustainability.
Now in its fourth year, the survey reflects a sector expanding its sustainability lens. For the first time, the 2026 edition assesses both environmental sustainability (including carbon emissions) and social sustainability (including privacy, media plurality, accessibility, diversity, and responsible media).
This addition reflects a growing recognition across the industry that sustainability today is not only about environmental progress. It is equally about people, accountability, responsible practices, and wider societal outcomes. As regulatory scrutiny increases and expectations from advertisers, publishers, employees, and consumers continue to rise, digital advertising sustainability must be understood through both environmental and social lenses.
The survey was conducted between November 2025 and January 2026, gathering 135 responses from companies and associations active across all European markets.
Key Findings from the Report:
Commenting on the report's findings, Steffen Hubert, Director of External Affairs & Sustainability, Seven.One Entertainment Group and Chair of IAB Europe’s Sustainability Standards Committee, said, “This year’s State of Readiness confirms what the Beyond Reach report began to map: when you apply an industry-wide double materiality lens, social topics come out on top. Privacy, accessibility, responsible media and media plurality are business-critical conditions for trust and long-term value creation. Now we must turn that clarity into comparable definitions, credible evidence and practical action across the ecosystem."
Also commenting on the report, IAB Europe’s Data & Innovation Strategist, Dimitris Beis, said “State of Readiness 2026 provides quantitative grounding for the evolving scope of the Sustainability Standards Committee. It moves digital ad sustainability beyond being seen as a carbon footprint side-car, while recognising that environmental impact remains critical, and demonstrates that sustainability as defined here reflects the real structural issues facing our ecosystem.”
Strengthening Social Sustainability Through Industry Collaboration
In response to this year’s findings, IAB Europe’s Sustainability Standards Committee has enhanced its focus on advancing guidance, education, and best practices across social sustainability themes.
Building on established environmental initiatives, the Committee is intensifying its work on responsible media, accessibility, diversity, media plurality, and privacy. This ensures that sustainability efforts within digital advertising address both environmental impact and wider societal responsibility in a structured and measurable way.
The full 2026 Report is available on IAB Europe’s website here. Additional practical resources and information on how to participate in ongoing standards development can be found via the Sustainability Hub.
