The European Programmatic Market Sizing Report produced by IAB Europe and IHS Markit, released Wednesday at DMEXCO, reveals that programmatic display advertising in Europe grew 27.1% to €12bn ($13.94 billion) in 2017.
About 62% of European display ad spend was traded through programmatic channels last year. More than 80% of mobile -- up 53.2%, from a year ago -- was traded via programmatic channels, bringing in about €6.8bn. Video rose 74.1%, up 64.6%, generating €3.9bn.
Western Europe generated €10.8 billion and Central and Eastern Europe gained €1.2bn.
Investment levels continue to rise, and more advertisers are moving to new ways of buying and working with partners on hybrid models to give them more understanding and greater control over their spend, stated Simon Halstead, chair of IAB Europe Programmatic Trading Committee, and Head of Open Demand, International at Oath.
Despite the positive outlook, per the report, several challenges could impact future growth. One of the major challenges remains recruiting people with the requisite skills, as well as providing relevant training. The report also highlights challenges around campaign measurement, sales key performance indicators for evaluating programmatic investment, privacy issues related to laws like GDPR, and the need for greater transparency.
The IAB Europe Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising Report shows that advertisers are taking strategies in-house to gain transparency, greater control, and access to quality and inventory.
Nearly 40% are executing their programmatic trading through in-house operations. Half of publishers participating in the study also have in-house models, and 62% of agencies have an in-house trading desk.
The research highlights several findings. Bringing programmatic practices in-house will continue to increase, along with investments. Programmatic trading is becoming the norm for most, but issues like ad fraud remain key barriers to increasing investments. Finally, private marketplaces are the dominant trading method used for programmatic.
The amount of display, mobile and video inventory that agencies and publishers trade programmatically continues to increase, even as investments from advertisers are weakening. More than 90% of those participating in the survey say their programmatic investment will increase over the next 12 months.