IAB Europe survey: Programmatic display advertising set to rise in Europe

Programmatic trading can bring efficiencies to the ad buying process and the report reveals that many stakeholders including strategists, planners, buyers and operational teams across the digital ecosystem are embracing this technology to gain efficiencies, meet client demand and deliver brand campaigns at scale.  However it also demonstrates the need for further learning and education and the recently published IAB Europe Road to Programmatic White Paper provides an analysis of the decisions facing advertisers, agencies and publishers in considering how to capitalise on the programmatic opportunity and address the accompanying challenges.

According to the report, publishers show a controlled, cautious approach with an emphasis on managing their own data and maximising value and margins by monetizing inventory more effectively, while agencies see themselves at the forefront of programmatic adoption, gaining trading, operational and audience targeting benefits and advertisers are the stakeholder group least likely have programmatic in-house at this point in time.

Barriers to adoption exist with hiring and training people with the right skill set the top obstacle.

Still, despite this, investment in programmatic is set to increase significantly with over 90% of all stakeholders citing an increase in investment or revenue over the next 12 months. Indeed, 4 in 10 expect an increase of more than 31%.

The report illustrates the attitudes towards programmatic display advertising, current adoption and strategies, on both the buy-side and sell-side of the digital advertising industry. It also looks at any significant differences between respondents with an international and local remit as well as markets according to their level of programmatic adoption.

Txema Garitano Plágaro, Innovation, Business Analytics & Search Management, SEAT:

As the IAB Europe report demonstrates, further education and clarity on the programmatic ecosystem are needed in order to encourage adoption. It’s important for advertisers to be able to define and engage their audience with greater cost efficiency.

Nikki Mendonça, President OMD EMEA:

The report provides valuable insights into how the buy-side and sell-side view programmatic advertising. As technology and marketing continue to collide at break neck speed, OMD see this opportunity as a natural evolution of our craft bringing unprecedented strategic opportunities for more effective target segmentation, improved engagement via dynamic creative optimisation and the creation of a more rapid feedback loop of realtime actionable learnings especially via mobile.

Sophie Croonen, Manager Product & Development, Sanoma:

Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising’ delivers a new level of understanding of the European programmatic advertising market. This will help publishers plan their strategies to maximise inventory value and create more premium opportunities for brands to reach specific audiences.

Graham Wylie, Chairman IAB Europe Programmatic Trading Committee & Senior Director EMEA and APAC Marketing AppNexus:

Programmatic is growing in importance to publishers, agencies and advertisers and this research shows the many factors influencing adoption across the different markets. Together with the whitepapers produced by the programmatic committee, this shows the potential for programmatic to be a strategic differentiator for European businesses rather than a tactical tool.

IAB Europe is the voice of digital business and the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising ecosystem. Its mission is to promote the development of this highly innovative sector by shaping the regulatory environment, investing in research and education, and developing and facilitating the uptake of business standards. Together with its members – companies and national trade associations – IAB Europe represents over 5,500 organisations.