Interactive Advertising Bureau
12 November 2018

IAB Europe Press Release: Mobile Ad Spend Crosses €10bn Mark in First Half of 2018, Latest AdEx Benchmark Study Reveals

Brussels, 12 November 2018 - IAB Europe, in collaboration with IHS Markit, has today published the AdEx Benchmark H1 2018 Study revealing that digital advertising grew by 10% to €25.7bn in the first half of this year.

The Study reveals that mobile ad spend crossed the €10bn mark and is approaching a 50% share of digital ad spend. The latest European Programmatic Market Sizing Report published by IAB Europe and IHS Markit shows that more than half of programmatic display spend is in mobile formats.

Video grew by more than 4 times total display and now accounts for 30% of the display segment. This expansion of video has increased the total display’s share of the overall digital ad spend market.

Display advertising growth continues to outpace search[1]; display grew by 12.3% and search by 10.2%. Display reached over €10bn in H1 2018 representing 40% of total digital advertising whilst search accounted for 46%.  Display advertising continues to experience strong growth in Central and Eastern Europe; in H1 2018 it grew by 17.9% compared to 11.2% in Western Europe. Indeed, the CEE region helped to drive the overall growth with an increase of 17% whilst the more mature markets in Western Europe experienced a growth of 9%.

Looking ahead IHS Markit estimates that digital ad spend will surpass €50bn in 2018.

Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe said, The half year AdEx Benchmark Study provides an update on the status of the digital advertising market in Europe. It continues to confirm the growth of video and mobile advertising as marketers look to digital as a brand building medium.”

Anton Kopytov, Partner Technology Consulting, Mindshare and Chair, IAB Europe Research Committee said, "The latest AdEx study demonstrates an understanding in the market that consumers barely separate their digital and analogue lives, that digital factors into every channel and means of communication. The lines between traditional and digital are blurring driving the growth of cross-channel video strategies and resurgence of audio on multiple platforms, including desktop, smart TV and mobile devices. GDPR has had an impact on data-driven activations in first half of 2018 making key market players cautious, but the general impact has been positive in building trust in the digital industry and we see recovery in the second half of 2018. Overall outlook for the consistent market growth is positive both in the East and the West of Europe."

Daniel Knapp, Executive Director TMT at IHS Markit, said "Uncertainty associated with GDPR impacted advertiser confidence in most markets, causing slower growth in digital ad spend between March and June. Demand conditions are set to improve in the second half of the year as market participants navigate the regulatory environment. Demand for video advertising and search remained strong in the first half of 2018, and CEE markets recorded the highest growth as they are progressively closing the digital maturity gap with the leading Western markets."

The Study incorporates data from the following online advertising formats:

  • Display
  • Paid-for-search
  • Classifieds and Directories

Additional segmentations are:

  • Video (In-Stream and Out-Stream)
  • Mobile (Display and Search)
  • Social

The Study can be accessed here.


1 Paid-for-search

For more information, please contact:
Alison Fennah, IAB Europe (fennah@iabeurope.eu)
Marie-Clare Puffett, IAB Europe (puffett@iabeurope.eu)

About IAB Europe

IAB Europe is the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising ecosystem. Its mission is to promote the development of this innovative sector and ensure its sustainability by shaping the regulatory environment, demonstrating the value digital advertising brings to Europe’s economy, to consumers and to the market, and developing and facilitating the uptake of harmonised business practices that take account of changing user expectations and enable digital brand advertising to scale in Europe.

About the AdEx Benchmark study

The data has been compiled by IAB Europe based on information provided by the national IAB offices around Europe. It is then processed and analysed by IHS Markit. The data represents the first half of 2018 January - June.

About IHS Markit Technology, Media & Telecom’s Advertising Intelligence Service

IHS Markit Advertising Intelligence Service provides its clients with a holistic and global view of a rapidly evolving advertising and marketing landscape. Developed and maintained by a team of expert analysts, it offers accurate, continuously updated market data, forecasts and reports that give our clients deep perspective on a dynamic advertising market. As the only global product that offers the same detail and scope for both established and emerging media we provide a unique, independent and objective view.

About IHS Markit (www.ihsmarkit.com)

IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO) is a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide. The company delivers next-generation information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government, improving their operational efficiency and providing deep insights that lead to well-informed, confident decisions. IHS Markit has more than 50,000 key business and government customers, including 85 percent of the Fortune Global 500 and the world’s leading financial institutions.  Headquartered in London, IHS Markit is committed to sustainable, profitable growth.

IHS Markit is a registered trademark of IHS Markit Ltd. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners © 2017 IHS Markit Ltd. All rights reserved.

Explanatory note on IAB Europe/IHS Markit AdEx Benchmark figures

Each national IAB in Europe runs its own annual online advertising spending study and the IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark figures are based on these studies. As the methodology of the studies varies country by country, IAB Europe and IHS Markit have defined methodology rules to represent the figures in such a way as to make them realistically comparable. This involves:

  • Readjusting local figures to allow for harmonised representation. Readjustment rates are supplied by groups of local market experts
  • Estimating/harmonising ad spend data for certain formats or segments in certain countries where local IAB studies do not include data or the definition or scope of a format is substantially different from IAB Europe standardised segments
  • Where local data is collected in a currency other than Euros, the average exchange rate in 2017 has been used to convert this to Euros. To provide data for prior year growth rates, the prior year figures have also been re-calculated using a constant exchange rate in order eliminate currency effects.
  • AdEx Benchmark focuses on four normalised segments: ‘Display’ (including mobile display, rich media and video), ‘classifieds and directories’, ‘paid search’ and ‘other’ (including email but excluding email marketing).
  • Figures quoted are gross figures (i.e. net invoiced value of the media, plus agency commission if any).

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