That’s a Wrap! Check Out IAB Europe’s 2023 Highlights

With the festive season upon us and the new year fast approaching, we take you on a journey back to look at what has shaped 2023 for us, our members and the industry.

So, In this blog post, we are showcasing some of IAB Europe’s best bits and all the great work we have accomplished with our wonderful members and partners.  Thank you to you all for your hard work, support, and expertise shared and for helping us to make 2023 such a great success. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Let’s dive in…

Key Stats

In 2023, we ran over 30 events and webinars attracting over 5500 attendees over the year, sharing information and knowledge within the industry. We also worked with industry experts from across our membership to produce 8 guides on key topics, such as Attention and Sustainability.

Most participated Events of 2023 

From our flagship event Interact in Madrid to our Great Debate series and Virtual Programmatic Days, we have covered a wide range of topics through our virtual and in-person events this year. 

Check out some of the most popular events below and watch these on demand. Or head to our Knowledge Hub if you want to watch more of our great events on demand. 

Interact 2023 in Madrid

This year we held our flagship annual event ‘Interact’ in Madrid, Spain, where we unpacked a whole host of topics from the attention economy, CTV, and retail media, through to premium publisher’s advertising models, sustainability, and more. Check out the event highlights and recordings here. 

Two Hybrid Virtual Programmatic Days 

Our Virtual Programmatic Day (VPD) events bring together industry experts and thought leaders to explore the latest trends, drivers, and barriers impacting programmatic trading in Europe. This year the events covered, programmatic omnichannel, the opportunity in Retail Media, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and more. 

• Check out the session recordings and highlights from our H1 event here.
• Check out the session recordings and highlights from our H2  here.

The Great Debate Series

Our Great Debate series of events brings industry experts together to discuss and debate the industry’s hottest topics of the moment. Check out some of our Great Debate event recordings and highlights below:

• The Great Debate: How Can We Advance Sustainability in Digital Advertising? 
• The Great Debate: The European Retail Media Landscape
• The Great Debate: Trust & Transparency

Top Three Industry Research

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. Below you will find our top three pieces of research from 2023:

• 2022 AdEx Benchmark Report - Want to know what channels, formats and markets shape digital investment? Check out this report
• Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising Report 2023 - What are the barriers and opportunities to programmatic investment? Check out this report which asked 400 industry stakeholders for their views and more.
• The Evolution of Digital Audio Advertising in Europe 2023 Report in Partnership with GroupM Nexus - Bring yourself up to speed on what is shaping and driving audio investment.

Top Trending Guides Authored by Industry Experts

All of our guides are created with the help and expertise of our industry committee members. Check out some of our top trending pieces below:

• Guide to Attention in Digital Marketing
• 101 Guide to Retail Media
• Guide to Improving Sustainable Business Decision-Making

[New for 2023] Sustainability Spotlight 

Our Sustainability Standards Committee was set up in October 2022 and through 2023 has continued with its collaborative efforts to help reduce the carbon emissions produced by the delivery of digital advertising. Here are some of the key outputs the committee and IAB Europe have produced to support this key topic:

• State of Readiness - Sustainability in Digital Advertising Report
• Harmonising Language Use for Sustainability Approaches in Digital Advertising 
• Digital Advertising Sustainability Summit 

[New for 2023] Retail Media Spotlight 

Our Retail Media Committee has been busy working on several initiatives to help educate and advance the Retail Media landscape. Check out some of our Retail Media highlights below:

• This year we curated a network of retailers from across Europe to advance our Retail Media work. The Council has been meeting regularly in Q4 and has been focused on the development of retail media standards.
• Our Chief Economist, Daniel Knapp, has been consistently monitoring the digital advertising market, particularly the developments in Retail Media. Get the latest stats in this infographic here. 

Policy, Advocacy, and Legal Spotlight

Let’s talk policy! This year, we have continued our policy advocacy efforts, demonstrating the value of the industry, and contributing to discussions on relevant EU policy dossiers. 

• One of this year’s main highlights was our summary of the DSA Ads Transparency Approach. Later, IAB Tech Lab published the DSA Transparency technical specification for public comment, an MVP designed to provide the industry with a solution that is readily implementable given the Digital Services Act (DSA) effective date of February 17th, 2024.

• We also hosted our first in-person policy event  IAB Europe’s European Elections: Rights and Risks in the Digital Public Space, where we invited stakeholders from all sides of the debate to participate, including the Commission’s Vice-President Věra Jourová. 

• We also took the opportunity to provide our views on current legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Procedural Regulation and the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), by disseminating our position papers to the relevant policymakers and discussing our stance and recommendations during meetings with them. 

• Our advocacy work also included our participation in the Commission's evaluation on consumer law, and our involvement in the Commission’s initiative, Cookie Pledge, a voluntary initiative that aims at countering cookie fatigue in consumers. 

• Finally, we released our monthly newsletter Policy Matters, to provide readers with bitesize information on all things policy, relevant to the digital advertising industry. We share brief analyses of current legislation and news that shape our work and the digital advertising landscape as a whole. Sign up at the bottom of this page 

2024 - What’s to Come?

As we look forward to 2024, you can expect a lot more great content, insights, events, and exciting news from us. 

From more Retail Media and Sustainability to the DSA, AI, programmatic advancements, and more we can’t wait to get stuck in with all of our members as we explore and advance in our industry’s hottest topics next year. 

We will also be hosting our annual Interact conference in a brand new location, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for more details coming soon.

So that rounds up 2023! A huge thank you to all of our members for getting involved in our initiatives this year and for helping to keep our  content as engaging and thought-provoking as ever 

If you are interested in joining IAB Europe or are already a member and want to get more information and be involved in our committees or task forces, outputs, or content, please get in touch with the team at communication@iabeurope.eu. 

We wish you all a wonderful festive period and a relaxing break, and look forward to working together and collaborating in the new year to drive the industry forward in 2024 and beyond.