We’re just one week away from Interact 2025, happening on 20th-21st May at nHow Brussels – and this is your final chance to register with a 20% discount!
🎟️ Register now and use code iab20eu at checkout to save: Register for Interact 2025
Under the theme ‘Digital Skylight – Clarity and Purpose for 2025 and Beyond’, Interact 2025 will bring together the brightest minds in digital advertising for two days of bold ideas, actionable insights, and game-changing conversations.
From policy and privacy to retail media and innovation, our agenda is built to inspire action and equip you with the knowledge you need to navigate the year ahead.
In a fast-evolving regulatory landscape, how can we strike the balance between privacy and progress? This essential session – “Policy in the Spotlight: Balancing Privacy and Innovation in Europe’s Evolving Regulatory Landscape” – features leaders from Microsoft, NOYB, Acxiom, and more.
Join Sebastian Grantz (Google) for a keynote on the future of PETs, followed by a panel and audience Q&A exploring real-world applications and innovations in privacy-first advertising.
Retail Media is exploding across Europe. Don’t miss insights from Colin Lewis (Retail Media Works) and Heike Schneider (Douglas Marketing Solutions) as they unpack growth opportunities and practical next steps.
Be the first to hear the results of the AdEx Benchmark 2024, presented by Daniel Knapp – a deep dive into the trends and market growth shaping the digital landscape in Europe.
Hear from leaders across top brands, publishers, tech platforms, and agencies. Walk away with practical takeaways to drive your business forward.
It’s not just about great content – it’s also about the connections you’ll make. From opening night drinks to our rooftop closing party at Rooftop 58, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to network with Europen leaders.
⏳ Final seats are going fast – don’t miss your chance to be part of Europe’s premier digital advertising event.
Register now and use code iab20eu for 20% off
Retail Media has firmly established itself as one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing spaces in digital advertising. As investment surges and innovation accelerates, the demand for consistent, transparent, and scalable measurement has become a top priority.
To meet this need, IAB Europe has produced two measurement standards: the Retail Media Measurement Standards for On and Off-Site in Europe and, in collaboration with the IAB U.S., the In-Store Retail Media Definitions and Measurement Standards. These initiatives aim to harmonise measurement practices across the region, providing a shared foundation for evaluating performance and driving continued growth.
View the Standards Below
Developed by members of IAB Europe’s Sustainability Standards Committee, this blog dives into the complexities of ad file compression, exploring how reducing file sizes may or may not translate into measurable carbon savings, the challenges of quantifying network emissions, and the broader implications for performance and infrastructure efficiency.
Thank you to the following contributors for sharing their expertise:
Dimitris Beis, Data Analyst & Sustainability Lead, IAB Europe
Andrew Hayward-Wright, VP Media Operations, SeenThis
Benjamin Davy, Sustainability Director, Teads
As the digital advertising ecosystem assumes a more proactive approach to the environmental impact of digital media campaigns, stakeholders are on the hunt for quick wins – actions that can be implemented to reduce the carbon footprint of media buys without disrupting business operations or incurring additional cost. One of the areas where the ecosystem has identified potential for optimisation is ad delivery, i.e., the transfer of ad-related files to the end user. Advertisers have invested in services centred around compressing image and video assets more efficiently, with the dual purpose of reducing load on networking resources and improving performance.
Reducing the file size of ads is a seemingly simple and straightforward optimisation: we might think that it costs practically nothing to compress files more aggressively, no complicated tech like custom carbon-aware bidding algorithms is required, and the idea that reducing the volume of data traveling through networks leads to networks using less energy is relatively intuitive. However, once we consider questions like how creative assets are handled until they reach the user consuming the ad, and how the internet’s emissions are quantified, doubt may be cast on the idea that small reductions in ad payloads lead directly to energy savings.
The emissions associated with transferring ad payloads through networks can often represent a material component of a campaign’s total environmental footprint. This point is well-illustrated by the following campaign example, whose emissions are quantified using a basic application of the latest proposed methodology for digital ad emissions, developed by IAB Europe’s Methodology & Framework Working Group. Using some demo data to represent a programmatic video campaign in the UK, we observe that the level of emissions estimated for ad delivery makes up almost a quarter of the total estimated campaign emissions, excluding production.
The level of impact will vary with the ratio of users on fixed and mobile connections, respectively, as these have a different carbon intensity as surfaced by the lifecycle assessments referenced in the methodology. Similarly, the estimated impact is a function of the transfer payload – this is the relationship that leads to claims around lighter files and a lower carbon footprint. Indicatively, the electricity consumption associated with transferring a given payload over a mobile connection is more than 10 times larger than the respective figure for fixed connections. In the example above, delivery emissions were estimated by assuming that the average payload for each ad was about 2.5 MB. An average ad payload reduction of half a megabyte would result in a 20% reduction in the estimated emissions. Is this reduction on paper associated with a real, tangible reduction in carbon footprint?
A short refresher on carbon accounting is required to answer this question. When quantifying the emissions of a system, whether that be an electricity grid, water grid, or information grid, in this case, different approaches can be followed. Oftentimes, the total inventory of emissions is divided by the total volume of goods or services provided, which is called an attributional approach (e.g., kilograms of CO2e per kWh of electricity consumed in a year). These attributional carbon intensities are quite useful as they provide an easy way to gauge the emissions that each unit of a good or service is associated with. On the flip side, they do not reflect the consequences of the level at which a good or service is demanded. They are not meant to quantify carbon emissions comparatively and may therefore fail to provide meaningful figures in cases where optimisations are being evaluated. Concretely, for our use case, a lower file size will be attributed a lower share of the total emissions that were estimated at a certain point in time for the network infrastructure.
From a carbon footprint standpoint, systems are often less or more responsive to changes in demand than these figures would suggest, depending on factors such as load. A water grid is a useful non-digital example here: energy is required continuously to maintain pressure in the pipes and ensure the system is ready to respond to households’ demand for water. The system’s energy draw may still increase under load, but a significant portion of its emissions will result from the overhead required to keep the system running and delivering. Using an attributional carbon intensity, calculated by dividing total emissions by total volume of water, would overrepresent the impact of consuming less water and underrepresent this overhead.
It's a similar story with networks and digital infrastructure: baseline energy consumption is high and idle capacity is considerable, meaning that small changes in payloads may not result in direct energy savings. In simple words, and to maintain the analogy, more energy is required to keep the internet’s pipelines flowing rather than to transfer any specific piece of information. It is worth noting that cellular networks are more power proportional to traffic, especially with the rise of energy-saving techniques.
The internet also happens to be incredibly chaotic, adding another layer of uncertainty. Quoting one of the papers on network electricity consumption reviewed by the Methodology & Framework Working Group, “a core design principle of the internet is that it is operational 24/7 and resilient to failure, so each packet may take a completely different route over entirely independent networks.” Since it is impossible to precisely predict the route the data will take during transfer, the same applies to the carbon footprint of this transfer.
The points above do not mean that reducing the payload of ads is a futile exercise. In the long term, lower cumulative demand for digital infrastructure may lead to less capacity expansion and therefore have an indirect impact on the system’s total emissions. However, claims of carbon footprint reductions in the short term should be checked for responsible use of references and a clear causal link between the technology or optimisation being used and the reduction in impact.
IAB Europe has explored image and video asset compression in collaboration with members and other industry bodies in the Sustainable Creatives Task Force. Through a survey, research, and testing, the Task Force collected insights into how the digital ad ecosystem compresses files, what’s defined in industry guidance and requirements, and which actions are suggested as best practice. Behind this work is the hypothesis that more efficient compression and delivery can yield both lower load on IT infrastructure and improvements in ads’ performance. Apart from potentially reducing energy consumption, lighter ad files also load faster – a difference that can be perceivable and affect user behavior. Multiple examples of faster loading leading to improved KPIs were covered in the IAB Europe webinar held to showcase the Task Force’s work, and the focus is now on testing the hypothesis above in a live campaign environment.
As such, there may be enough (more traditional) upside to drive further work in this area beyond the current incentive of showcasing corporate responsibility and leadership on digital emissions. Multiple companies in the digital ad ecosystem are focused on developing technologies that lead to better ad outcomes via improvements in user experience. Beyond reducing ad payload, many implement practices such as lazy loading to deliver ads with both better performance and potentially lower emissions. Furthermore, advancements in adaptive streaming technologies allow for the dynamic adjustment of video quality and delivery based on network conditions and user viewing behavior, ensuring a smoother user experience while potentially minimising unnecessary data transfer.
The second main question to consider in relation to the carbon footprint of ad delivery is which of the stakeholders involved in a digital ad campaign actually control the compression of creative assets. Before they reach end users, the assets that make up digital ads are likely to have undergone multiple rounds of compression. Original video files may be shot in raw camera formats and then compressed to an intermediate codec in post-production before being compressed further to arrive at a master file – the version that is uploaded to an ad server (referring to any hosting service for ads, in-house or third-party). Usually, the master file is also subject to requirements and guidelines issued by the ad server. From there, the ad server is likely to create multiple transcodes from this master file to serve in different environments (e.g., based on bandwidth or compatibility), with the logic depending on factors such as how many times the ad is likely to be served.
The ultimate dimensions of the creative assets delivered to end users are primarily determined by the transcoding processes implemented by each ad server, based on the master file provided. While certain advanced configurations may afford advertisers greater control over these transcoding parameters, in the absence of such granular control, additional compression applied to the master file prior to upload does not guarantee a directly proportional reduction in the file size of the resulting transcoded assets. Indeed, the final file sizes and, consequently, the campaign's network resource utilisation during delivery, are contingent upon the specific transcoding algorithms employed by each ad server.
Furthermore, applying compression to the master file beyond the levels recommended by a given ad server's specifications can potentially diminish the overall efficiency of the platform's optimisation process. If excessive data reduction is performed prior to upload, it may impede the ad server's ability to effectively transcode and optimise the asset for various delivery scenarios, potentially leading to sub-optimal file sizes.
The environmental impacts of data transfer are not directly proportional to traffic. This means smaller file sizes don't always translate to a measurable carbon reduction from a technical standpoint.
However:
Environmental impact assessment methodologies have limitations. Attributional assessments can suggest impact reductions on paper, but these should be interpreted cautiously. Still, they offer a useful incentive to adopt best practices with long-term benefits.
Although the immediate technical impact of reducing file sizes may be small, widespread, consistent improvements across the digital value chain can influence future infrastructure decisions and support a more sustainable ecosystem. Progress depends on collective effort and a shared commitment to responsible digital design.
For more information on IAB Europe’s Sustainability Standards work and how you can get involved, please visit our Sustainability Hub here or contact Dimitis Beis at beis [at] iabeurope.eu.
With Interact 2025 just over a week away, we’re continuing to shine a spotlight on some of the must-attend sessions from this year’s agenda. This time we’re turning our attention to Policy.
Taking place on 20th-21st May 2025 at nHow Brussels in Belgium, Interact is the conference that brings leaders from across the digital advertising ecosystem together, all under one roof. With a central theme of ‘Digital Skylight – Clarity and Purpose for 2025 and Beyond’, this year’s event will explore how our industry can navigate a fast-changing landscape shaped by economic uncertainty, regulatory shifts, and technological advancements.
Find out more about the event here, and discover what to expect on the topic of Policy at the event below.
Afternoon Masterclass - Regulatory Framework on Digital Advertising: Balancing Privacy and Innovation
Joining the afternoon masterclass agenda, our deep-dive policy session will explore one of the most urgent questions facing our industry - how can we uphold user privacy while enabling the innovation and growth needed to keep Europe competitive?
Moderated by Daphne Van Doorn, Head of EU Affairs at BVDW, the session will bring together a powerhouse panel of experts from across the ecosystem:
Max Schrems, Founder, NOYB
Chris Hydak, Assistant General Counsel, Privacy and Regulatory Affairs, Microsoft
Dr. Sachiko Scheuing, European Privacy & AI Governance Officer, Acxiom
Miguel Valle del Olmo, Attaché for Digital Matters, Spanish Permanent Representation to the EU
This discussion comes at a pivotal time. The European Commission’s 2025 work programme signals a renewed focus on regulatory simplification aimed at boosting European competitiveness. With the withdrawal of the draft ePrivacy Regulation and the upcoming Digital Fairness Act, alongside efforts to streamline and potentially consolidate the digital acquis under a new European Data Union Strategy, the future direction of privacy and digital advertising regulation is once again in the spotlight.
Plus, the Commission has announced plans for a targeted reform of the GDPR, scheduled for 21st May - the very date of our session.
Key topics up for debate will include:
This session is just one of many insightful discussions happening at Interact 2025, with expert voices from across the digital advertising ecosystem coming together to dive into and debate some of the hottest topics of today.
Don’t Miss Interact 2025
Interact 2025 isn’t just about those in-depth sessions; it’s also the place to connect, collaborate, and build the future together. With a packed agenda that also includes the release of the AdEx Benchmark Results, deep-dive discussions, and evening networking events, this is an event not to be missed.
Don’t Miss Out on Our Limited Time Offer for 20% Off:
Use code iab20eu at checkout and get 20% off your ticket – offer valid for a short time only!
View the Full Agenda
Check out the speaker lineup
Get Your Tickets
The countdown is officially on! In just two weeks, our flagship event, Interact 2025, will bring together the brightest minds in digital advertising for two days of cutting-edge insights, high-impact discussions, and world-class networking.
Taking place on 20th-21st May at nHow Brussels, this year’s edition promises to deliver the clarity, purpose, and actionable strategies the industry needs to navigate change and drive sustainable growth.
🎟️ Haven’t booked your ticket yet? Don’t miss our limited-time May Day offer: Get 20% off with code iab20eu at checkout!
Digital Skylight – Clarity and Purpose for 2025 and Beyond
In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, this year’s theme gets straight to the heart of what matters most - cutting through uncertainty and focusing on the real opportunities shaping the future of digital advertising.
🎤 Inspiring Keynotes & Fireside Chats
Hear from top-tier voices across the digital ecosystem as they share forward-looking strategies and insights to thrive in a complex environment. Featured speakers include:
Alison Keith, Global Head of Media Excellence, Kraft Heinz
Bernard Marchant, CEO, Group ROSSEL
Dominique Rose Van-Wither, Chief AI Evangelist & CEO, Final Upgrade AI
Heike Scheider, Team Lead Sales & Business Development, Douglas Marketing Solutions
Sebastian Grantz, Global Data & Privacy Lead, Google
Marie De Cordier, Director of Government Relations & Public Policy - Europe, Nielsen
🧠 Deep-Dive Discussions
From AI and Retail Media to privacy, CTV, sustainability, and more, explore our agenda of mainstage keynotes, interactive workshops, and expert-led masterclasses designed to unpack the forces transforming our industry.
🤝 Next-Level Networking
Engage with peers and thought leaders through enhanced networking opportunities, including:
🚀 Explore What’s Ahead
Get early access to exclusive insights and industry data, including:
🎟️ Don’t Miss Out – Book Your Ticket Today
Secure your place at Interact 2025 and be part of the conversations and connections that will shape the future of digital advertising in Europe and beyond.
Use code iab20eu to get 20% off – available for a limited time only!
Interact 2025 is right around the corner. To get you ready, we’re shining a light on some of the must-attend sessions from this year’s agenda. Including one that tackles one of the most urgent and transformative issues in digital advertising today: how publishers can reclaim control in an era of increasing browser restrictions and signal loss.
Taking place on 20th-21st May 2025 at nHow Brussels in Belgium, our flagship conference will unite leaders from across the digital advertising ecosystem, under the theme ‘Digital Skylight: Clarity and Purpose for 2025 and Beyond’. Illuminating the path forward, we’ll explore the economic, social, and industry forces shaping the future, establishing a catalyst for change.
Limited-Time Ticket Offer:
Use code iabeu10 to book your place for €782 + VAT – first come, first served!
One of the most anticipated sessions on this year’s programme is “IAB Tech Lab 2025 Roadmap Featuring the Trusted Server Framework”, presented by Tony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab.
During this mainstage session, Tony will reveal the IAB Tech Lab’s product priorities for 2025, offering a critical look at how the industry is responding to one of its biggest challenges: the collapse of traditional web signals and increasing browser limitations.
At the heart of this discussion is the Trusted Server Framework - a new open-source infrastructure designed to move key advertising operations server-side. Announced earlier this year, the framework provides publishers with a powerful alternative to client-side tracking and ad rendering, ensuring greater privacy compliance, transparency, and monetisation control.
This solution empowers publishers to:
As the industry recalibrates in a new addressability era, the Trusted Server Framework represents a bold, collaborative step toward a future where privacy, performance, and publisher autonomy can coexist. This session will not only walk through the technical implications of the framework, but also explain how it fits into a larger strategy to future-proof digital advertising.
If you're a publisher, ad tech provider, buyer, or policy expert looking to understand the practical building blocks of the next-gen digital ecosystem, this will be a can’t-miss moment at Interact 2025.
Interact 2025 features a dynamic two-day programme, including:
We’ll explore everything from Retail Media, sustainability, and privacy, to measurement, CTV, AI, and much more. The IAB Tech Lab session is just one of many future-shaping discussions designed to equip you with the clarity and purpose needed to lead in 2025 and beyond.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of the conversations (and the solutions) that are moving our industry forward.
Access Our Limited Time Offer on Tickets: First come, first served - use the following code to get your tickets for €782 + VAT - iabeu10
View the Full Agenda
Check out the speaker lineup
Get Your Tickets Today
In this week's Guest Member Blog Post, we hear from Tristan Veale, Insight Manager, IAB UK, as he shares the top 5 insights you need to know from IAB UK's latest Digital Adspend Report.
The UK’s digital ad market grew by 13% last year, hitting £35.5bn, according to IAB UK’s Digital Adspend report for 2024. It’s a big number and one that shows advertisers are continuing to prioritise online channels as they seek to reach, engage and motivate consumers. But what are the juicy stats behind that total? And what do they tell us about how the digital ad market is maturing? These are the five things to know…
1. AI-driven Search is maintaining its market share
Search continues to be the single largest channel in the digital ad market – accounting for 47% of total spend in 2024 – but this isn’t a story of just staying put. Search grew 13% year-on-year and has continued to innovate, with AI driven improvements increasing the channel's functionality and helping it maintain market share. However, the biggest reason Search has grown in line with the market average is search shopping ads – the ability to create a seamless shopping experience where consumers can act on impulse is paying dividends.
2. Older people are tuning into social & spend reflects that growth
Spend on social channels is a major driver of growth across the UK’s digital ad market. Social display spend grew 20% in 2024, with social video accounting for the lion’s share of that. Advertisers, essentially, are following eyeballs and harnessing highly engaging formats to achieve cut-through. It’s significant to note that the increase in spend we’re seeing correlates with an increase in time spent. Over the last five years, the average UK citizen has increased the time they spend on social media to the tune of 30 minutes per day. Cumulatively, that’s equivalent to 3,000 years more time being spent on social media in 2024 vs 2019. i.e. A LOT. Interestingly, 45-55 year olds are the main drivers of this, with this age group’s time spent on socials up by 40 minutes a day.
When it comes to where social spend is going, Guideline data gives us insight into which categories agencies invested most prominently in last year - computers and software, clothing, and beauty / grooming products accounted for a third of collective agency investment in social advertising last year.
3. Digital retail media was the strongest growing channel in 2024
The UK’s digital retail media market grew by 23% in 2024, across on and offsite formats. We expect this trend to continue, as advertisers seek out the data-rich, contextually relevant solutions offered by retailers – by 2027 we forecast that retail media will account for 7% of the total digital ad market, vs 4% today. And, as our new study Futurescape details, retail media is on course to become increasingly integrated into advertisers’ strategies over the coming years - moving from a bottom of the funnel focus to become a driver of brand building too.
4. The UK’s gaming ad market surpasses £1bn in spend
It’s long been called an emerging channel but those days are officially over - gaming has emerged and advertisers spent £1.1bn on the channel in 2024. This accounts for ads placed into the gameplay itself, as well as around the game, such as interstitials, reward ads and playable ads. According to Futurescape, the gaming market will continue to gain momentum, with an average 7% growth rate every year between now and 2030. So there’s lots to play for!
5. We expect £10bn of incremental digital ad spend by 2027
The digital ad market will continue to grow over the next few years, with Adspend predicting £10bn of incremental ad spend between 2023 and 2027. However, the maturing nature of the market, coupled with current economic uncertainty surrounding tariffs, means that growth is likely to slow somewhat - with an annual year-on-year growth rate of 5% by 2027. By this point, digital video’s share of the market will have grown to 27% vs 23% today, but Search will still be the dominant player - driven by the rise of AI and the growth of retail media.
If you’re an IAB UK member, you can access the full Digital Adspend report here.
As Retail Media cements its place as a core revenue stream for retailers and a must-have in brand marketing strategies, many retailers are looking to take their first steps into this fast-growing space. But launching, or even scaling, a Retail Media Network (RMN) can feel overwhelming without a clear starting point.
To support those just beginning their journey, we asked members of our Retail & Commerce Media Committee to share their expert insights on what retailers need to know. From building a strong data proposition to navigating internal challenges and prioritising measurement, this Q&A offers foundational guidance to help new entrants set up for long-term success.
Thank you to the following contributors, for sharing their thoughts and expertise:
Katie Streeter Hurle, Chief Strategy Officer, SMG
Tim Abraham, Senior Director, Data Partnerships, The Trade Desk
Larisa Dumitru, Head of eCommerce EMEA, GroupM
Katie - “I’d advise retailers to talk to their brands first. What would they like to see? What does good like to them? Ultimately, they’re your first customers and will be a critical part of informing your proposition. Next up, look at the market. Where do you fit in, and how do you offer something that’s perhaps missing from existing offers? Finally, make a choice about where you have the capabilities in-house to do this and where you’ll need partnerships. There’s expertise in the market that could help you accelerate progress fast, whilst the market is in growth.”
Tim - “First and foremost, retailers need to make sure that nothing they do with customer data will damage that most trusted relationship. The key question then is which “buyer profiles” the retailer wishes to address. For example, media agency buyers versus brand trade marketing versus non-endemics, to maximise Retail Media Network (RMN) revenue and margin. In particular, this means providing a Retail Media proposition that fits with mid-funnel and upper-funnel omnichannel media campaigns. The final consideration will be how the retailer brings its offering to market, and who will be selling and operating campaigns.”
Larisa - “Before launching or growing a Retail Media offering, retailers need to be super clear on what makes them stand out and how they’ll actually help brands hit their goals - whether that’s driving sales, building awareness, or winning share of shelf (or all of the above, ideally). They also need to make sure they’ve got the tools, data, and reporting to prove it’s working and are transparent about what the roadmap is.”
Larisa - “To build a strong data proposition, retailers need to start by recognising the value of the data they already have — things like what customers are buying, how often they shop, and what influences their decisions. This step is often overlooked, but it’s critical: understanding the power of your own data is the foundation for giving brands the insights they need to connect better with shoppers.
From there, it’s about organising the data so it’s easy and safe for brands to use, while making privacy and security non-negotiable. Setting clear rules around data access and protecting customer trust will help create a platform that brands are comfortable and excited to invest in and grow with.”
Tim - “Different buyers have different needs. A traditional shopper marketing buying approach has a stronger bias towards incremental sales lift and less towards brand preference metrics. Other buying approaches might treat return on ad spend (ROAS) as the means to compare performance between buys, even if there is no incrementality component. For others, retailers need to provide an off-site, self-serve solution that allows them to leverage retail data across their omnichannel media plans. Retailers don’t need to do everything on day one – it is critical to have a clear narrative of what problem each part of their RMN proposition is solving.”
Katie - “Measurement needs to be available on day one. It doesn’t need to be sophisticated necessarily, but standard, baseline metrics (for on-site, in-store, and off-site) are all critical now. When advertisers see the direct impact of their campaigns, confidence builds, and a clear measurement plan not only validates RMNs externally but also makes the RMN team accountable for results from launch. Once the basics are in place, you’ll of course then need a roadmap to scale your measurement offer and build depth in it.”
Tim - “In the earlier stages of Retail Media, investment was tightly coupled with broader retailer or supplier trade marketing relationships. But now, brands must prove the value of Retail Media investments as they would for any other media strategy. Retailers are uniquely able to do this by providing outcomes-based measurement. Ideally, this goes beyond ROAS to consider incremental sales lift and, where possible, shows the impact of running across multiple RMN channels (e.g., the impact that off-site has on on-site). A note of caution, however: Retailers shouldn’t overlook measurement solutions that show the value of Retail Media on upper funnel metrics.
Larisa - “If retailers want to tap into serious media budgets, they need to start acting like true media owners - and that means bringing real measurement rigour into everything they do. Brands like Unilever expect clear proof that their investment is delivering business outcomes, not just reach or visibility. Measurement shouldn’t be an afterthought; it should be built into the strategy from day one, with clear KPIs, transparent reporting, and a commitment to optimising performance.”
Katie - “In my experience, retailers can face internal barriers moving at pace. Whether that’s signing off new contracts, launching new capabilities, working with legal or DPO teams, it’s genuinely hard to make progress fast because resources aren’t always there and Retail Media is a new part of the business. Figuring out how to unblock those pipes to bring new propositions to market quickly is vital. Secondly, Retail Media necessitates a totally different way of working with brands, which can take time to influence, and retailers have to learn a whole new language. In a normal retailer-supplier relationship, there’s a commercial and trading dynamic that sometimes favours the retailer. In a RMN, the supplier brand is the client/customer and will invest only if the opportunity will genuinely deliver results. This needs a very different way of working and a completely different level of servicing.”
Tim - “The challenge we most commonly hear from retailers is securing internal buy-in and support for bringing a Retail Media solution to market. Retailers are rightly cautious about how data is used, and this is reflected in demanding the highest standards of governance. A second common challenge is developing a business model that covers operational expenditure, such as software as a service (SaaS) technology fees. These costs can grow quickly, particularly people costs associated with managed service solutions, where retailers manage campaign execution.”
Katie - “You have a second mover advantage right now, don’t underestimate this! You can look at where you follow the ‘market playbook’ that has been established by the early and mature RMNs to drive growth quickly. But equally, many new RMNs will be launched from smaller businesses or wider commerce players who are naturally very agile. There’s a great opportunity to differentiate and cut into the market in new ways too.”
Tim - “Perhaps a deceptively simple piece of advice is to be customer-centric! We regularly hear from retailers that their key objective is to deliver an incremental margin back to their core business. This can be achieved as a win-win compared to reduced media wastage and better return on investment for advertisers. However, retailers should understand that brands will expect RMN solutions to meet the standards of control, independence, and consistency that are demanded from other media options.”
Larisa - “Start by putting brands at the centre of your thinking. Understand what they need — real results, trusted data, clear measurement — and build your Retail Media offering around helping them succeed, not just selling ad space. Collaborating with media agencies from the outset is key too; they can help you shape your offerings, align with brand goals, and drive the right results. If you focus on delivering real value to brands and work closely with agencies, everything else — investment, partnerships, growth — will follow.”
For more information on IAB Europe’s Retail and Commerce Media work and how you can get involved, please visit our Retail Media Hub here or contact Marie-Clare Puffett at puffett [at] iabeurope.eu.
In this week's member guest blog post we hear from Callum Smith, Head of Marketing Solutions EUI at TikTok, as he explores the power of creativity in B2B marketing, and why it’s time to ditch dull for impactful.
Every August, Edinburgh transforms into a creative playground. The Fringe is the world’s
largest arts festival ‒ a living, breathing celebration of bold ideas, unexpected moments, and
unforgettable performances. For audiences, it’s a fantastic place to discover new voices and to
be immersed in the best of culture and the arts. But for performers? It’s something else
entirely.
With over 4,000 acts performing more than 50,000 shows, competition is fierce. There are no
guarantees. No pre-booked seats. Just a sea of hopeful performers trying to stand out and
capture attention. To succeed, they must be memorable, engaging, and ‒ critically ‒ uniquely
themselves. Sound familiar?
Because in many ways, TikTok is the Royal Mile of the digital world. Every scroll is a decision:
watch or skip, engage or move on. And much like the Fringe, audiences come to TikTok looking
for serendipitous discovery, inspiration, and entertainment.
But in B2B marketing, we're facing a problem. Read on to find out what it is ‒ and how we fix it.
In the B2B marketing world, a lot of ads are really dull and boring. Recent research from Peter
Field and System1 titled The Cost of Dull revealed that:
And I get it, I’m a B2B marketer. I understand most of the stuff that we do is boring. But
there’s a problem to that: it costs us money. Data suggests that uninspired creative could mean
spending up to £10 million extra each year just to match the results you could have achieved
with more creative impact. To put that in perspective: that’s the equivalent of two Super Bowl
spots or nearly two billion TikTok impressions ‒ lost to mediocrity.
So, creativity isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s essential to making a real impact and seeing a
return.
And there's an even bigger problem facing short-form video advertisers. Let me introduce you to
the arch-nemesis, the boss at the end of the game, the person that you have to consistently fight
against: the finger. Because if you make really really boring advertising that someone has the
ability to skip right past, then it may as well have not existed in the first place.
System1’s recent research proves that better creative equals better ROI. Not marginally better
‒ exponentially better. The more emotionally engaging your ad, the more effective it is. That’s
why creativity is absolutely mission critical in B2B advertising. [2]
Every great piece of content starts with one question: What’s in it for the viewer? Whether it’s
a 15-second ad or a Fringe flyer handed out on the Royal Mile, success lies in value exchange. If
we can surprise, delight, entertain or resonate ‒ we earn attention.
TikTok is unique because it offers intimacy and active attention. Users are incredibly leaned in ‒
it's not a second screen; it's an immersive full-screen, sound-on platform ‒ and that gives B2B
brands an incredible opportunity to connect, but only if we deliver content that truly captivates.
We need fleshed-out characters. Jeopardy. Emotion. Storytelling. These aren’t just tools of
theatre ‒ they’re the tools of effective short-form video creative.
When you embrace a broader perspective on just how effective creative can be, you can better
understand the true return on your creative investments and use this knowledge to create more
impactful content ‒ and with less. That’s what we call Return on Creative.
This is a piece of work we developed with IAB Europe as an antidote to the relentless pursuit of
ROI. Don't get me wrong: ROI is fantastic ‒ we all know how vital profit is ‒ but when we make
ROI the only metric that matters, we sometimes sacrifice the bigger picture, which can be really
powerful.
Return on Creative expands the definition of value. It’s not just about conversions. It’s about:
And much, much more.
It’s a path to ROI ‒ not a departure from it. So let’s raise the bar for B2B. Let’s stop settling
for dull. And let’s start treating creativity as the performance lever it truly is. Dive into the
thought paper here to learn more and to step into your brand's creative era.
Sources
As Retail Media cements its role at the heart of digital advertising strategies, understanding how it's being adopted and where it’s heading next has never been more important.
That’s why our Retail & Commerce Media Committee is launching the second edition of our Attitudes to Retail Media in Europe Survey. And we’re calling on industry professionals across the ecosystem to contribute their views.
Whether you're a retailer, advertiser, or agency, your insights will help map the current state of play, spotlight investment trends, and uncover the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of Retail Media in Europe.
Why Take Part?
In just 10 minutes, your input can:
All responses are confidential and anonymous, and there’s room to share any additional thoughts you feel are important.
🗓️ Deadline: Friday, 6th June
📝 Take the Survey Now
Your perspective is essential. Join us in guiding the next wave of Retail Media growth across Europe.
For more information on IAB Europe’s Retail and Commerce Media work and how you can get involved, please visit our Retail Media Hub here or contact Marie-Clare Puffett at puffett [at] iabeurope.eu.
As the digital advertising industry navigates rapid change, Interact 2025 promises to deliver the clarity and direction needed for the journey ahead. Taking place on 20th-21st May at nHow Brussels, Belgium, our flagship event will bring the industry together to explore the forces shaping the future. And it all kicks off with the highly anticipated release of the 2024 AdEx Benchmark Report.
In our opening keynote, our Chief Economist, Daniel Knapp, will unveil the latest insights from our AdEx Benchmark Report, the industry’s definitive guide to digital ad spend across 28 European markets. Building on a record year in 2023, Daniel will reveal the new numbers, trends, and opportunities that defined the digital advertising landscape in 2024 and will drive the industry in 2025 and beyond.
Last year’s report and opening presentation revealed an industry in robust health and dynamic transformation:
Will Europe's digital ad market continue to grow? Will new channels like Retail Media and CTV solidify their positions? How are brands and agencies adapting to economic uncertainties?
Join us at Interact 2025 to be among the first to find out.
Following Daniel’s keynote, Alison Keith, Global Head of Media Excellence at Kraft Heinz, will provide the advertiser’s perspective on the results. Through an exclusive fireside chat, she’ll share how Kraft Heinz is navigating these market shifts, the channels and innovations fuelling their growth, and strategies for driving creativity, brand building, and measurement excellence.
Together, these two sessions will set the tone for two days packed with strategic insights, innovative thinking, and the conversations that will shape digital advertising’s future.
Under the theme 'Digital Skylight – Clarity and Purpose for 2025 and Beyond,' Interact 2025 will bring together Europe’s digital leaders to explore the economic, social, and technological forces shaping the industry. Through inspiring keynotes, deep-dive workshops, and enhanced networking experiences, Interact will empower attendees to drive progress and innovation.
🗓️ Dates: 20th-21st May 2025
📍 Location: nHow Brussels, Belgium
View the agenda here.
Check out our speaker lineup here.
See who our sponsors and partners are here.
Use code iabeu10 to unlock our limited-time ticket offer: just €782 + VAT – first come, first served!
Be the first to hear the numbers. Be part of the conversation. Be ready to shape the future.
On 24th April 2025, IAB Europe hosted an insightful Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) 101 webinar, created to offer a practical introduction to one of the digital advertising industry’s most important compliance tools.
Led by Gosia Kowalska, Privacy & Compliance Manager at IAB Europe, the session delivered a clear and comprehensive overview of the TCF, highlighting its role in supporting compliance across the digital advertising ecosystem. Gosia walked attendees through how the TCF works, why it matters, and which types of companies can benefit from adopting it – from publishers and vendors to CMPs (Consent Management Platforms).
Participants also had the opportunity to engage in a live Q&A, where Gosia addressed common queries, offering valuable clarity on how the TCF can facilitate compliance with regulatory requirements and operational needs in today's privacy landscape.
Missed the live session?
Good news – the webinar recording is now available on demand! You can watch it at your convenience and gain practical insights into how the TCF can support your company’s compliance journey.
Ready to Join the TCF?
If your organisation is looking to demonstrate a commitment to privacy, build trust with users, and meet legal requirements, joining the TCF is a vital step. The process is straightforward:
Find out everything you need to know about becoming a TCF participant here: How to Join the TCF
Access Supporting Materials
To make your onboarding easier, we have developed a range of resources to support companies throughout their TCF implementation journey:
All these resources and more can be found on our dedicated page:Supporting Materials for TCF
Stay tuned for more educational initiatives and updates to help you navigate privacy and consent requirements confidently. Whether you are just starting your TCF journey or are looking to enhance your implementation, IAB Europe is here to support you every step of the way.
