• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, November 6, 2024

Don’t think that programmatic is going to be replaced as a sales/buying mechanism any time soon.

Programmatic display buying is seeing sustained growth in Europe despite a certain maturing, according to the 2024 Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising Report, a study by IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee.

Among publishers polled, 42% now use programmatic to sell 41% of their display inventory. up from 31% in 2023. And 61% of agencies sell that same percentage via programmatic, along 40% of advertisers. 

In addition, 41% of publishers sell 41% of their mobile inventory through programmatic, compared to 40% last year. However, publishers cited Audio and Retail Media as their top two programmatic growth areas.

For publishers, the main barriers to adoption or growth of programmatic trading are:

• Quality of media (e.g. fraud, brand safety, viewability, transparency)—30%
• Operational elements (e.g. measurement, performance, use of data)—25%
• Costs—10%
• Sustainability—5%
• Hiring and training staff—20%
• Political and economic environment—10%

There have been several changes this year. For one, quality of media is up from 15% in 2023. On the other hand, costs were cited by 26% in 2023.

The drivers of programmatic investment for publishers include:

• Ability to discovery audiences—25%
• Granularity of controls and transparency reporting—13%
• Availability and scale of inventory—33%
• Cost efficiencies—10%
• Operational efficiencies (e.g. automation)—20%

Asked if they are ready for they are prepared for the deprecations of third-party cookies, publishers answered:

• Strongly agree—29%
• Agree-29%
• Neither agree nor disagree—26%
• Disagree—9%
• Strongly disagree—9%

IAB surveyed 254 advertisers, agencies, publishers, and ad tech vendors across 31 markets.