Brussels, Belgium, 8th February, 2024 - In a continuous effort to enhance transparency and accountability in the digital advertising ecosystem, IAB Europe is pleased to announce the release of the updated 'Guide to Quality' for 2024. This comprehensive guide written by members of IAB Europe’s Brand Advertising Committee is a valuable resource for all stakeholders in the supply chain, offering insights, best practices, and practical examples to elevate the quality of digital advertising campaigns.
Building upon the success of the initial release in September 2021, the 2024 edition of the guide encompasses additional quality elements, with a particular focus on sustainability best practices. As with the last edition, the guide addresses crucial aspects such as viewability, brand safety and suitability, ad fraud, campaign creativity, user experience, and privacy.
To mark the launch of the updated guide, IAB Europe will be hosting a webinar on 7th March at 12:00 CET. The webinar will feature key contributors to the guide, including experts from the Brand Advertising committee, who will discuss the guide's significance and delve deeper into what constitutes quality in digital advertising and how this can be achieved. Participants can expect insights into why quality is paramount and gain valuable perspectives on implementing best practices.
"We believe that quality is a shared responsibility among all stakeholders in the digital advertising ecosystem," said Helen Mussard. CMO at IAB Europe. "This updated guide not only reflects the latest industry best practices and standards but also emphasises the importance of sustainability in digital advertising. We invite industry professionals to join our webinar and engage in a meaningful dialogue about the future of quality in our industry."
For more information and to access the 'Guide to Quality,' please visit here.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Helen Mussard, CMO at IAB Europe (mussard (at) iabeurope.eu)
Ever wanted to find a certain resource on a specific industry topic but haven’t known where to start? Look no further. We are pleased to share that our Knowledge Hub has expanded to reveal three new specialist Resource Hubs, allowing you to access all the expertise and insights that you need to know on some of the industry’s key topics.
Dive into our new Hubs and equip yourself with the latest information, insights, and key resources on the following topics:
Our Retail Media Hub showcases the rapidly growing Retail Media ecosystem. The Hub features the latest insights, definitions, and resources created in collaboration with our members.
Our Sustainability Hub features the work of IAB Europe, created in collaboration with National Federations and our members, to showcase what we are doing and the steps we are taking to support and achieve sustainability in digital advertising.
A dedicated hub strategically tailored to address the imminent depletion of third-party cookies. The curated resources provided within this hub are geared towards sharing practical, solution-oriented guidance to prepare for a post third-party cookie era.
From educational tools to definitions, research, and the latest news and stats, we will continue to share and update these Hubs to provide you with all the quick-access information you need to stay educated, informed, and ahead of the game.
What’s more, you can still access our central Knowledge Hub for all of the latest research, reports, and market insights from us and our members. So whatever you need to know more about, we have the resources at hand to help.
Keep your eyes peeled for more Resource Hubs coming soon.
Brussels, Belgium, 24th January, 2024 - IAB Europe has welcomed its first Chair and Vice-Chair of the Retail Media Committee, to help lead and drive integral work and pan-European standardisation and education in this rapidly growing digital advertising space.
Jason Wescott, Global Head of Commerce Solutions at GroupM Nexus was elected as Chair of IAB Europe’s Retail Media Committee, alongside Patricia Grundmann, Chairwoman of Retail Media Circle, Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) e.V. and Vice President Media & Retail Media, Managing Director OBI First Media Group, who was elected as the Vice-Chair, on the 18th January during the first Committee meeting of 2024.
Standing as the first Chairs of the Committee, Jason and Patricia were elected to lead the committee’s work to help increase understanding of the Digital Retail Media advertising ecosystem, enable cross-stakeholder initiatives, and develop standards to enable Retail Media to scale and thrive across Europe.
Jason has been an active member of IAB Europe’s Retail Media work track since the multi-stakeholder working group was first launched in October 2022. Commenting on his newly appointed role, and sharing his expertise and vision for the committee, Jason said, “Retail Media has had a stellar year, claiming the accolade of fastest growing major ad revenue channel within digital for Europe and Central Asia in 2023. The digital ad landscape will continue to evolve at an exhilarating pace, driven by developments in data capabilities, technology, commercial opportunity, and digital consumer trends.
With great change comes great responsibility. Recognising the growing impact, influence, and sheer scale of Digital Retail Media, it’s no surprise that IAB Europe has made it a larger focus; with one resource being a Retail Media Committee. This multi-stakeholder group helps increase understanding of the region’s Digital Retail Media ecosystem through industry definitions, guidelines, standards, market intelligence, and thought leadership. I’m tremendously proud to be a member of this collective, which brought together many of the region’s most influential (Retail Media) leaders - who’ve collaborated to produce valuable insights that provide enormous benefits. It’s an incredible honour to receive the vote of confidence from this group, and I look forward to supporting more in my role as IAB Europe Retail Media Committee Chair, for the next two years.”
Commenting on her role as Vice-Chair of the committee and her vision for supporting and leading the work alongside Jason, Patricia said “Only a shared understanding of the market enables an efficient, cross-party planning and implementation of retail media campaigns. I am looking forward to significantly increasing the market importance of retail media on a European level and establishing uniform European market standards and metrics to create more transparency for all parties.“
The Committee brings together retailers, including Ahold Delhaize, Bol, Douglas, MediaMarkt Saturn, Schwarz Media and Ocado alongside leading Retail Media businesses in Europe to advance and shape the future of this exciting digital advertising space and has already produced valuable resources including pan-European definitions, the first-ever industry association-led Retailer Digital Advertising Capability Map a Retail Media Glossary. You can find all of these resources and more on IAB Europe’s Retail Media Hub here. To find out more about the committee’s work and how you can get involved please contact IAB Europe’s Marketing & Insights Director, Marie-Clare Puffett here.
Retail Media is transforming the digital advertising ecosystem. At the same time, it is transforming many retail businesses and how consumers shop with them. Whilst some retailers have developed sophisticated media networks, some are new on their journey. To understand what it takes to develop a Retail Media value proposition, we sat down with experts from our Retail Media Committee to gain their insight and recommendations.
A big thank you to the following contributors for sharing their thoughts:
Q1. What are the top two considerations for retailers thinking about building a Retail Media proposition?
Diana:
Start by understanding your customer journey and building a unique proposition to deliver relevant touch points across the journey. Often this will differ by product category, channels, audience segment, store formats, and seasonality. The proposition should improve not detract from the overall customer journey with customer experience always front of mind. Pricing strategy should reflect the role in the customer journey but also consider market rates; demand v supply; category and product profitability and cost of sale.
Secondly, make it easy for your internal teams and advertisers to plan, buy, and measure an end-to-end Retail Media campaign across each touchpoint - this is likely to be a different solution for each retailer, and their target markets (brand advertiser v agency v long-tail supplier v a JBP (Joint Business Plan) supplier with a media commitment aligned to their trading activity). The key is to create a streamlined user journey and enable a single view of the campaign activity through APIs and custom integrations where necessary.
Martin:
When retailers build a Retail Media proposition, they should prioritise two key considerations. First, they need to assess their audience and data assets, leveraging valuable first-party data and understanding the size, demographics, and interests of their audience. Second, retailers must develop a solid monetisation strategy, exploring different pricing models and ensuring a seamless integration that enhances the customer experience. Additionally, they should consider factors like technology infrastructure, partnerships with brands and agencies, competition analysis, and compliance with privacy regulations. A comprehensive approach to these considerations will help retailers build a successful and profitable Retail Media proposition.
Larisa:
First, have clarity on the go-to-market model: are you building your own Retail Media proposition in-house? Are you working with a third-party? Are you selling through a retailer media network such as Criteo? Will it all be self-service? Will you also offer managed service? We see many retailers working with a plethora of partners, which creates a lot of confusion for brands and agencies. I’m all for testing and learning, but I do believe retailers need to be very clear on the partner ecosystem.
Secondly, make it easy for advertisers to buy into your Retail Media offering – be clear on the unique selling points, on the pricing, on the ways of working.
Babs:
When retailers consider building their own Retail Media proposition, they should firstly initiate internal alignment to clearly define the value they offer to advertisers. This involves fostering collaboration across teams and business units to efficiently develop a viable solution. Additionally, retailers should prioritise effective use of customer data by investing in data technology solutions for storage, management, analysis, and activation of audience segments. Without a robust data infrastructure, competing in the realm of data-driven advertising becomes challenging.
Furthermore, Retail Media thrives on collaboration. Retailers should engage in strong partnerships with brands and agencies, ensuring their proposition is attractive and accessible. Retailers need to understand their new partners' needs and goals and provide the best tools and solutions to align with strategic objectives. Lastly, retailers should be open to working with third-party technology providers to aid them in their Retail Media endeavours. The development of these retailer-technology partnerships is vital to the growth as well, as it makes it easier for smaller, vertical-specific retailers to enter the market and compete on a level playing field with the larger players.
Q2. What challenges should they be aware of?
Diana:
There are many!
Martin:
Retailers can build the case internally for a Retail Media proposition by highlighting the benefits of collaborating with trusted partners who have experience in this domain. They can emphasise that partnering with established experts avoids reinventing the wheel and accelerates the process of launching a successful media proposition. By showcasing the potential revenue streams, enhanced customer experiences, and the opportunity to strengthen brand partnerships, retailers can make a compelling case for internal stakeholders, demonstrating that leveraging trusted partners is a strategic and efficient approach to building a thriving Retail Media proposition.
Larisa:
In Europe, the Retail Media market is expected to be valued at 25 billion EUR by 2027 – that number in itself is a good starting point when trying to convince internal stakeholders to launch a Retail Media proposition. For retailers, I believe it’s less a case of why and more a matter of how and when. Bringing everyone to the table and ensuring that all interests are equally represented (trade & shopper, marketing, content, sales, etc) will be key in ensuring a holistic Retail Media proposition and it’ll make it easier for agencies and brands to buy into it.
Babs:
When persuading their internal teams, Retailers must remember they’re not just selling an idea but are telling a compelling story that aligns with the team’s goals and values and the significant growth opportunity for their organisations. A few things to bear in mind are:
Q3. Can you share two top best practices for retailers?
Diana:
Martin:
Larisa:
Babs:
At IAB Europe, we love research and with our extensive experience of undertaking industry attitude and benchmarking studies on a range of digital advertising and marketing topics, it’s easy to see why.
As such, as our festive gift to you, we’re excited to share and round up the year with not one but three unique and exciting surveys that we invite you to provide your expertise in.
From the state of readiness of our industry when it comes to sustainability in digital advertising, to the current state and advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and understanding how prepared we are for the post third-party cookie era. Whether you’re on the buy or sell side we want to hear from you.
Each of our surveys is designed with time in mind and should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Plus all answers will be kept strictly confidential.
Check out the details below and participate today.
Thank you in advance for your time and insights, they really do help us to drive the future of our industry forward.
Help us understand how much progress our industry has made towards sustainable digital advertising practices.
Achieving sustainability is critical for the digital advertising industry. But how much of a priority is it for businesses in the ecosystem today, and how much progress have companies made in reducing their own carbon footprint and improving sustainable practices? We need your help to find out.
Now in its second year, our State of Readiness survey aims to provide a comprehensive, pan-European understanding of our industry’s advancement towards sustainable digital advertising.
Your insights are valuable in helping us understand our industry's progress and what more needs to be done. We will be comparing this year’s results against last year's, so we can measure how attitudes and progress have developed.
The deadline to complete the survey is Friday 19th January 2023.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the digital advertising landscape. It’s a hot topic and one that is changing the way brands advertise, providing new ways of reaching consumers and automating complex tasks to help make more informed, data-driven decisions.
But to fully harness its potential and to understand and navigate its challenges, we need your help and expertise.
In collaboration with Microsoft Advertising, we’re looking to gain valuable insights into the current state of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the digital advertising industry through our new survey.
The survey is now open, and you have until Friday 2nd February, to take part.
How ready is the digital advertising industry for a post-third-party cookie world?
With less than a year to go before third-party cookies are deprecated in Chrome, we are keen to understand how the digital advertising industry is gearing up for this new era. We invite stakeholders from across the industry to take part in this short survey to help us understand the level of readiness, which solutions are being tested, and where our industry needs more support.
The survey is open for your participation until Friday 12th January 2023.
December may be in full swing with the end of the year in sight, but we still have a few more virtual events for you to join, to keep you merry, and full of insight!
From understanding streaming behaviour with Samsung ads and our Latest State of the Nation with our Chief Economist Daniel Knapp to a dedicated DSA Town Hall on the latest Tech Lab Specifications, we have a whole host of industry information sessions ready for you to dive into.
All our events are free and can be joined virtually, so why not check them out below and register to secure your place today?
7th December | 15:00 CET
Join us as Samsung Ads reveal their latest analysis of Smart TV behaviours. Based on first-party data from nearly 9 Million Samsung TVs in the UK, discover how the increased ease of discoverability and app “surfing” is driving new Smart TV behaviours.
Following the report overview, our Chief Economist, Daniel Knapp, will dive straight into a fireside discussion with Kasia Jablonska, Director of Digital and OnDemand at BBC Studios, and Jenn Batty, Head of Content at Samsung TV Plus on the streaming ecosystem and the rapid rise of FAST. Check out the event here and register below.
11th December | 17:00 CET
Join us for our latest Digital Services Act (DSA) Town Hall as we discuss the recent release of the technical specifications for the DSA Ads Transparency Solution Approach by IAB Tech Lab, in collaboration with IAB Europe. This session is a must-attend for anyone in the industry who would like to know more about the recently released technical specifications and how they can be applied.
Digital advertising in Europe is both exposed to cyclical forces of economic uncertainty and structural forces of industry change.
As the season of 2024 predictions inevitably begins, this webinar takes an empirical, evidence-driven look at the future by analysing 10 forces shaping the future of digital advertising.
We’re thrilled to announce that the 2023 State of Readiness - Sustainability in Digital Advertising survey is now open! We invite you to help us understand how much progress our industry has made towards sustainable digital advertising practices by taking part in the survey today.
Achieving sustainability is critical for the digital advertising industry. But how much of a priority is it for businesses in the ecosystem today, and how much progress have companies made in reducing their carbon footprint and improving sustainable practices? We need your help to find out.
Now in its second year, our State of Readiness survey aims to provide a comprehensive, pan-European understanding of our industry’s advancement towards sustainable digital advertising. Whether you’re on the buy or sell side, located in a local or pan-European market (or beyond) have your say by taking part in our survey today.
The survey will take at most 10 minutes to complete and responses will be kept strictly confidential. Your insights are valuable in helping us understand our industry's progress and what more needs to be done.
The deadline to complete has been extended to Friday 19th January 2023.
On the 9th of November, around 100 stakeholders from across the advertising industry came together to discuss and debate sustainability in digital advertising at our first Digital Advertising Sustainability Summit.
Thanks to the support of our event host Meta and event partner Ad Net Zero, we enjoyed a packed morning full of thought-provoking and inspiring content and discussions as we look to collectively drive and achieve key sustainability goals in our industry.
Check out the summary of all the key highlights below.
The event kicked off with Angie Gifford, Vice President, EMEA from Meta taking to the stage to outline her own personal experience as to why climate change is critical. After witnessing firsthand the severe rate at which the icecaps are melting in Greenland, she went on to say that what we are doing as an industry right now “is not enough” and that we all have our part to play in “moving the needle” to driving real change. Angie outlined the commitment Meta has made in this area, highlighting they have maintained net zero emissions for their global operations since 2020 and have an ambitious goal to reach net zero emissions for their value chain in 2030.
Our event host Christy Cooper, Global Director of Industry Relations from Meta added more insight into what needs to happen in order to shift focus and drive action. “As an industry, we are all committed optimists but now is the time for us to take more decisive action”. She reiterated that Meta is keen to support client and agency partners with their goals to measure the emissions of digital advertising, and was one of the founding partners of Ad Net Zero. Christy’s sentiment ran through the event, reminding us all that we cannot just talk to the converted, we have to reach those still not taking action with their sustainability plans.
Anthony Falco, Global Director at Ad Net Zero then took to the stage to share the work that Ad Net Zero is doing to help the industry to decarbonise the production, distribution, and publication of advertising. He outlined the Ad Net Zero five point action plan, which provides a framework for businesses to make progress when it comes to decarbonising the ad industry and promoting sustainable consumer behaviour. This is categorised into these categories :
He also discussed how they are embarking on driving an industry-wide commitment to measurement and reduction, and how they plan to scale these efforts across the Globe.
Find out more about Ad Net Zero here.
Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe then shared the work of IAB Europe’s Sustainability Standards Committee, and how it is working hard to bring industry stakeholders together to share expertise and deliver vital work that helps to reduce the amount of energy consumed and emissions produced by the delivery of digital advertising. She explained that the work is split into the following key areas and how this work contributes to wider industry initiatives:
Isabelle Quevilly, Director of Creative Shop, NEMEA at Meta took to the stage, to share a fantastic example of brands driving action and change by showing the WFF campaign Meta created to reduce the amount of meat consumed. The case study showed how brands can use the power of digital advertising to speak directly to consumers, to encourage them to make small changes that can make a huge difference to our planet.
The campaign potentially had an impact of 33K tons GHG emissions reduction (with 91,600 people declaring they made little swaps, such as swapping meat for a vegetarian diet once a week).
Isabelle was then joined by IAB Europe’s Marketing & Communications Director, Lauren Wakefield for an insightful Q&A discussion. Key highlights included:
We then moved to the topic of measurement, which was one of the main action points of the event. In order to create real change and move the needle it is imperative that our industry has consistent measurement standards in place, so that we can benchmark our efforts and accurately represent the reduction of carbon emissions. At IAB Europe, we are currently working on a gap analysis of presently available options for greenhouse gas estimation throughout the digital media supply chain. Our aim here is to provide the industry with a full, clear picture of what frameworks, methodologies, and estimators are available so that more informed decisions can be made.
We invited our panel to take to the stage to discuss this in more detail.
Moderated by Phil Smith, Director General of ISBA, who was joined by Craig Fryer, Global Media Director at Reckitt, Laura Wade, Head of Sustainability Strategy at EssenceMediacom, and Dimitis Beis, Data Analyst & Sustainability Manager at IAB Europe the panel discussed how we are working across the industry to align on a global measurement framework to measure the emissions of ads.
Key takeaways from the discussion included:
We then moved on to the topic of policy and regulation as IAB Europe’s Public Policy Manager, Ines Talavera de la Esperanza discussed the current policy and regulatory sustainability landscape in the EU, including relevant passed and live legislation that we should be aware of. She also shared her predictions for the end of the year and the potential impact of the EU Parliament 2024 elections.
You can view the content shared on relevant regulations here, with the main takeaway being that she predicts that the new 2024 EU parliament will be a catalyst for more regulation that is likely to have an impact on digital advertising when it comes to sustainability.
To round everything up Christy Cooper, Global Director of Industry Relations at Meta invited Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe, and Stephen Woodford, CEO of the Advertising Association to the stage to discuss their thoughts on the content covered and what we should expect next:
Here’s what they had to say:
Stephen - “We are at a tipping point. In terms of the climate crisis, we are now 20 years ahead of where we should be. With this being the hottest year on record, our planet is in crisis. As an industry, we are not going fast enough, and every day that we are not making progress we are adding to the problem. 2024 has to be a tipping point and we have to do so much better.”
Townsend - “How do we get more committed optimists? Is it that we need more resources and funding to do this? We need total candor from members about what we are doing as industry associations. Where are we getting in the way of solving the problem? Tell us honestly what we can do more of so we can drive positive action.”
In summary, the energy and passion of our industry can get ahead of regulation, but we have to make this happen now. The main action point is to drive those not yet working on plans into action and through the work of our committee, alongside our Global allies including GARM and Ad Net Zero, we need to focus on getting measurement in place so that we can finally see the change we are making. We need facts and hard numbers, and we all need to act.
Overall, it was an amazing opportunity to be in a room full of “committed optimists”. Whether it’s harnessing new creative approaches, fostering action through impactful campaigns, seeking knowledge, or finding other ways to just do better, we look forward to continuing our work together and to achieving sustainability in digital advertising.
Brussels, Belgium, 26th October, 2023 - IAB Europe, a European level association representing a diverse membership of digital marketing, digital advertising and media companies, has released a positioning paper outlining recommendations to improve GDPR enforcement in cross-border cases. The paper is in response to the European Commission's ambition to simplify and expedite GDPR enforcement in such cases.
The association acknowledges the importance of ensuring a more straightforward and effective enforcement mechanism, and views the draft GDPR procedural regulation as a positive first step toward this goal. IAB Europe's paper outlines key recommendations aimed at enhancing the draft GDPR procedural regulation in several critical areas. First, the association advocates maintaining the one-stop-shop system as the foundation of GDPR governance, preserving the balance between national and European competences while avoiding measures that could weaken this mechanism.
Second, IAB Europe emphasises the encouragement of early resolutions, such as amicable settlements, to efficiently resolve cases , stressing the importance of facilitating amicable resolution mechanisms, like internal complaint systems. Furthermore, IAB Europe underscores the need for increased transparency in supervisory authorities' decisions, suggesting the inclusion of correspondence between supervisory authorities in the administrative file to strike a balance between confidentiality and accountability. Lastly, IAB Europe calls for the strengthening of defendants' rights to be heard, not only at key stages of the administrative procedure but also at other critical points, ensuring reasonable and proportionate time limits for their input. IAB Europe hopes that these recommendations will collectively help to better streamline and improve GDPR enforcement while upholding fundamental rights and fairness.
Commenting on the above key recommendations from the paper, Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe said "IAB Europe is committed to fostering a digital ecosystem that not only respects privacy and fundamental rights but also ensures efficient enforcement of GDPR regulations across borders. Our recommendations aim to strike a balance between transparency, accountability, and the protection of confidential business information, all while safeguarding defendants' rights to a fair procedure. We stand ready to collaborate with stakeholders to strengthen the foundation of GDPR governance and propel the industry toward a more streamlined and effective future."
The policy paper can be found here for more information, please visit iabeurope.eu/ or contact Franck Thomas, Policy Director, IAB Europe - thomas@iabeurope.eu / Helen Mussard, CMO, IAB Europe - mussard@iabeurope.eu
According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the last 8 years have been the hottest on record. The signs are clear: global warming is well and truly here.
Since the 1980s, each decade has seen global temperatures higher than the last due to record levels of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) trapping heat in the atmosphere.
While that’s probably not news to you, the impact that digital technologies are having on climate change might be.
Despite the illusion that digital technologies are ‘clean’, their environmental impact is in fact massive.
Take digital advertising as a case in point: Since the early 2000s the space has experienced quasi-exponential growth. With spending on digital ads having risen from $10B to $378B in the last 20 years, according to eMarketer, it’s now the largest advertising medium in terms of investment globally.
The sheer growth of the digital advertising industry has had a clear and measurable impact on climate change.
Ready to Take Action?
So what’s the answer?
At IMPACT+ we believe digital advertising can be more sustainable.
And we’ve recently published a new whitepaper that provides everything you need to get started making your digital ads campaigns more sustainable.
The whitepaper sheds greater light on the true carbon footprint of the digital advertising industry and provides actionable solutions to reduce it.
Read through the five takeaways below, and download the in-depth white paper for more.
5 key Takeaways to Help Reduce the Carbon Impact of Digital Advertising
Download the Whitepaper
Don't miss out on these invaluable and actionable insights.
Click here to download our white paper and join the movement towards more sustainable digital advertising practices.
Plus join us on 28th September at 12:00 CET for IAB Europe's 'Digital Innovation: Start-Up Spotlight Webinar' where we will dive into the whitepaper and this topic in more detail. Find out more and register here.
More About IMPACT+
IMPACT+ award-winning sustaintech solution (trusted by leading global brands including L’Oréal, Heineken, AXA, BMW and Danone) enables digital advertising players to evaluate and reduce their environmental impact without sacrificing performance.
In essence, IMPACT+ builds new performance indicators and tools to help the digital advertising ecosystem use greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and electricity consumption to inform their digital advertising strategy.
In this week's member guest blog post we hear from Tamara Jelic, Head of Business Development, and Anastasia Loseva, Head of Affiliate Programs at Coinis as they dive into the value of Affiliate Marketing
What is Affiliate Marketing?
If you are new to this topic, I am not going to bomb you with a dictionary definition but a more relatable situation. Ever stumbled upon a recommendation for a product on your favorite influencer or portal, clicked on it, and ended up thinking about buying a product that was advertised on it, or bought it immediately? You are in luck - you've been part of an affiliate marketing chain!
In simple terms, affiliate marketing is like a digital “word-of-mouth” where individuals or businesses recommend products or services. If someone makes a purchase based on that recommendation, the recommender gets a commission (earning by sharing). Imagine earning each time someone clicks on a movie recommendation you made or buys that super secure VPN you wrote about. Interesting, right? This is the magic of affiliate marketing: turning passions into paychecks without the heavy lifting.
Myths and Legends of Affiliate Marketing
There are certain points that you should be aware of before jumping on the train so I will present you with a few myths about affiliate marketing
Myth 1: The Overnight Profits
There is a misconception that many newcomers to affiliate marketing are sold on the dream of passive income, envisioning a scenario where they set up a website or a campaign and immediately start generating massive amounts of money. This misconception often arises from overly optimistic marketing pitches or testimonials that don't represent the average experience.
Imagine Sarah, who bought an online course claiming she’d start earning thousands within a week. She set up a basic website and waited. A week later, her earnings were negligible. Sarah realised that without a proper strategy, research, and consistent effort, this dream was far from reality.
Myth 2: The Illusion of Effortless Triumph
Affiliate marketing is more than a one-trick game. Successful marketers in this field are not sticking to one golden product or platform and sticking to it blindly. It requires a combination of market research, understanding audience behaviour, effective promotion strategies, and regular engagement.
The digital world is in a constant state of flux. What worked a month ago might not work today. You must be willing to learn, adapt, and innovate to stay ahead.
Myth 3: Oversaturated Markets Lead to Failure
Just because a niche is popular doesn't mean there's no room for newcomers. Often, market saturation is mistaken for high competition. But with the right strategies, even saturated markets can yield results.
Remember Sarah from the story above. How did she get better? Well, she diversified her affiliate marketing strategy by targeting both popular and emerging niches, ensuring multiple revenue streams and reducing dependency on a single market segment. And she bought traffic for her website of course.
On the other side, we have the legends
Legend 1: The Power of Niche Selection
Delving deep into a specific niche allows affiliate marketers to understand the unique needs, preferences, and pain points of their audience. This understanding leads to more targeted and effective campaigns.
Over time, as marketers consistently deliver valuable content and offers tailored to their niche, they establish themselves as authorities. This trust translates into higher conversion rates and lasting customer loyalty.
Legend 2: Relationships Fuel Success
Trust isn't just about ensuring genuine product recommendations. It extends to transparent communication with partners, ethical marketing practices, and prioritising the needs of the audience.
Think of brands that have built loyal partnerships. These partnerships flourish because both parties value and trust one another, leading to increased revenue and long-term collaborations.
Legend 3: Data-Driven Decision Making
In today's world, decisions based on gut feelings aren't enough. Analytics provide insights into user behaviour, campaign effectiveness, and areas of improvement, ensuring that decisions are backed by tangible data. So, setting up your tracking is highly important.
Companies like Amazon and Airbnb regularly leverage data analytics in their affiliate programs to optimise offers, understand market trends, and tailor their strategies, leading to increased profits and affiliate satisfaction.
How Modern Brands Are Boosting Revenue While They Sleep
Imagine this: It's midnight. While most of the city sleeps, a fashion enthusiast in New York stumbles upon a portal reviewing the latest sneaker release, clicks an embedded link, and makes a purchase. Halfway across the world, a tech aficionado in Tokyo is swayed by a YouTuber's recommendation and gets a new VPN. What's the magic behind these after-hours sales? Affiliate marketing.
Modern brands, from Nike to Apple, are leveraging this 24/7 marketing marvel to drive sales even when their offices are dark. By partnering with content creators and influencers, brands transform them into their very own digital salesforce, working around the clock. Every click, every sale made through these affiliates' platforms, means revenue for brands. It's a seamless synergy where brands expand their reach, influencers earn commissions, and consumers discover valuable products. And all this, while the brands potentially boost their bottom lines in their sleep.
Why Affiliate Marketing is Your Next Best Move
Low Investment, High Return: The initial cost of starting with affiliate marketing is minimal. All that is necessary is a traffic source (it could be a blog, social media account, traffic network) and a partnership with advertisers, owners of a product/service, if not direct, often through affiliate programs where there are rev-share or cost-per-action options.
Flexibility: One can work at their own pace, choose which products or services to promote, and even select the marketing strategies that suit them best. It really depends on the interest of the affiliate who will be running the product/service.
Diverse Opportunities: With countless niches available, there's no limitation to what can be promoted. From tech gadgets, software, and finance offers, to fashion accessories, every sector today offers affiliate marketing opportunities.
Passive Income Potential: Once there is a landing page and a url with tracking parameters out there, with the right marketing strategy and a good affiliate/s, it can keep earning revenue without active management of the advertiser (if the advertiser is not running the offers internally). For example, one landing page crafted the right way, can work on multiple networks and generate leads for months.
Your One-Stop Destination for Affiliate Mastery
But how do you navigate this vast realm? This is where companies like Coinis come into play. With 10+ years of experience in affiliate marketing, Coinis provides a platform tailored to cater to both advertisers and publishers/affiliates. Furthermore, Coinis has an experienced media buying team unparalleled in its expertise, possessing a great understanding of where to position which vertical, ensuring optimal visibility and conversion. Find out more here.
Join IAB Europe’s Digital Innovation: Start-Up Spotlight Webinar Featuring Conis
Affiliate marketing, with its passive income potential, is a realm waiting to be explored. As the lines between businesses and individuals blur in this arena, the opportunities only grow. Coinis stands at this intersection, ready to guide both advertisers and publishers/affiliates to their zenith of success.
We encourage you to join the webinar and inform yourself about the possibilities to scale your brand’s visibility and reach more customers/clients.
In this week’s member guest blog post, we hear from Emmanuel Josserand, Senior Director, Brand, Agency and Industry Relations at FreeWheel on what we really mean by ‘Premium Video’.
The ongoing proliferation of video channels and content, combined with the convergence of digital and linear, is redefining the premium video ecosystem. With established channels advancing and new ones emerging, there is increased industry discussion around how to define the term ‘premium video’.
Strict definitions in the advertising industry can come with the risk of being too restrictive. But not clarifying terms such as premium also risks undermining standardisation and damaging advertiser trust in this inventory.
While there is still no industry-agreed definition of what constitutes ‘premium video’, there are a number of attributes that video inventory must typically meet to be considered premium, including:
Brand safety is an especially prevalent issue in digital advertising due to the widespread use of audience-first targeting models. These models prioritise reaching the audience over selecting the best inventory (and its context) to reach the right audience, a nuance that creates a level of uncertainty over the kinds of inventory advertisers purchase. Buyers therefore run the risk of their ads — and consequently their brand — appearing in environments that contain harmful content.
The kinds of content, and in turn, inventory, that is available via premium video marketplaces are thoroughly vetted, ensuring brands only access quality environments. Some advanced TV channels, for example, broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD), must meet the same regulations as linear TV. This means BVOD platforms follow robust guidelines around inappropriate content and rising concerns such as misinformation.
Alongside regulations for TV-like environments, Stefan Havik, General Director and CDO DPG Network, believes that: “Fraud verification is an integral safety measure for protecting investment and campaign performance. Clarity is key to prevent wasted spend on fraudulent or poor-quality inventory that doesn’t deliver value.”
Across all channels, advertisers and agencies are demanding visibility over where they invest their media spend. When buyers purchase premium video inventory, they have transparency around the sellers they purchase from, which is a necessity for maintaining trust in premium video inventory.
Transparency is also important for sellers in terms of which buyers they trade with and which ads they run, as they must ensure ad creatives meet regulations to preserve the quality viewing experience. For this reason, premium video is usually traded through direct sales and private marketplaces (PMPs), which gives media owners greater control compared to alternative transaction methods such as open auctions and exchanges.
Audiences have a particular emotional investment in the premium video content they watch because they select precisely what, when, and where they tune into it. Studies from IAS have also found the quality of advertising environments has a significant impact on audience engagement and brand perception, with high-quality environments being more engaging and low-quality ones presenting a risk to brand objectives.
“Through the emotional connection between viewers and content, premium video delivers a superior advertising experience. This is further amplified by high-impact ad creatives and the big-screen devices audiences use,” commented David Rasmusson, Product Manager at ViaPlay.
Buyers need to be assured that the inventory they invest in works, making accurate verification and reporting essential. Advertisers and agencies require correct and complete metrics, such as viewability, for their video campaigns to understand the impact of their spend and justify maintaining or increasing budgets.
Furthermore, attribution remains critical for learning how media delivers against brand goals. Premium video measurement can tie audience actions to specific ads, meaning buyers can trust their spend is driving real value for brands.
Audiences are moving between many different channels to watch their favourite shows. To achieve sustainable growth, brands need to drive incremental reach. Six in 10 UK CTV viewers who took part in the AudienceXpress consumer study now watch more ad-supported streaming platforms than linear TV and 46% use free streaming platforms daily.
Audiences continue to have a huge appetite for long-form, professionally produced entertainment. However, premium video is now not just focused on that type of inventory. Due to changing user viewing habits, it also now encompasses a broader range of content — including short-form clips and immersive, high-quality shows. The quality of the production is what remains unchallenged as the most likely content to capture audiences and is therefore the most valuable environment for brands. The rapid and widespread audience adoption of premium video channels makes them effective at helping advertisers connect with audiences that could otherwise be difficult to reach.
Proving premium’s worth: Does it truly deliver stronger performance?
Identifying value brings the conversation back to measurement, which is perhaps the biggest challenge of a diversified ecosystem. New video measurement frameworks place a lot of emphasis on reach, which remains highly important, but doesn’t capture all premium video’s value.
Premium video measurement goes beyond baseline viewability standards and instead incorporates attention metrics and completion rates, which according to the forthcoming FreeWheel’s The Delicate Art of Balancing Ad Load report, stands at an impressive 94% for long-form premium video content. With the right tools to combine delivery metrics with attention, this is where premium video really shines, meaning buyers can be assured of premium video’s effectiveness.
As Ralf Hape, Managing Director, Sky Media Germany puts it: “‘Premium’ means quality, and measuring quality is not an easy task as there is no standardised measurement criteria in place yet for BVOD and CTV. There are some indicators that come close to a standard, such as VTR, Completion, and Viewability Rates, but they are not a “single currency” for non-clickable inventory. When measured against all these parameters, however, premium video is uniquely positioned and at the forefront of quality.”
A major reason for this is that broadcasters and premium video providers are carefully crafting their ad loads to create the best viewer experience, an endeavour that requires them to consider factors such as ad duration, ad break duration, and the number of ads included in a break. Refining this practice across screens, for different lengths of content, all whilst maximising revenue and enabling brands to achieve their upper and lower-funnel goals is no small feat, but it is one that’s vital.
Ultimately, premium video is inventory that puts the viewer experience first, which is equally beneficial to brands and premium video providers. Premium video drives quantifiable results for advertisers, whether they are looking to drive awareness or sales, and buyers need to carefully explore which video channels best enable them to achieve this.
As they do so, it’ll be crucial to remember that brand safety, transparency, engagement, trust, and quality reach are the core attributes that define what premium really means.
