IAB Europe this week signed an industry joint letter addressed to the Members of the Committee of Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament (LIBE) on the Data Act proposal and its interplay with the GDPR. The letter initiated by FEDMA was co-signed by IAB Europe, Alliance Digitale (IAB France), IAB Poland, IAB Spain and IAB Sweden and other associations representing companies from various sectors of the business community.
As the LIBE Committee moves forward to finalise its opinion on the proposed Data Act, some provisions in the European Commission’s proposal and some amendments in the LIBE Committee’s draft opinion could have the unintended consequences of overriding the GDPR risk-based approach that would ultimately undermine the adduce goal of the Data Act of facilitating innovative uses of existing data.
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BRUSSELS, 25 January 2023 – Today, a coalition of associations representing companies from various sectors of the business community issued a joint statement on the Data Act and its interplay with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Chapter II of the proposal.
The statement highlights that some provisions in the European Commission’s proposal and some amendments in the LIBE Committee’s draft opinion would restrict certain data processing activities even when carried out in a GDPR-compliant way.
These provisions do not only risk curbing the benefits for innovation, but they are at odds with the Data Act’s objective to empower users who should be free to decide the purposes for sharing their personal data insofar as any data sharing and processing is compliant with the GDPR.
With the GDPR, the EU has set up a modern futureproof data protection framework. Yet, the Data Act could undermine these achievements and the credibility of the GDPR.
Specifically, the coalition calls on EU legislators to:
The full coalition includes:
ACT - The App Association
AIG -IAB France - Alliance Digitale
CCIA - Computer & Communications Industry Association
EUCOPE - European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs
FEDMA – Federation of European Data and Marketing
IAB Europe - Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe
IAB Poland - Interactive Advertising Bureau Poland
IAB Spain - Interactive Advertising Bureau Spain
IAB Sweden- Interactive Advertising Bureau Sweden
ITI - Information Technology Industry Council
You can read the full letter here.
More than 90% of Advertisers are Partnering with Retailers to Reach Consumers
New study from IAB Europe and Microsoft Shows that Retail Media is Now an Established Part of Media Plans
13th December 2022, Brussels, Belgium, IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital and marketing ecosystem has today announced the results of a new industry survey on retail media advertising. Currently, retail media is one of the fastest growing sectors within the digital advertising industry and IAB Europe forecasts retail media ad spend will reach €25bn in Europe by 2026.
To further understand the retail media opportunity, IAB Europe and its member company Xandr, now part of Microsoft, surveyed over 800 buy-side stakeholders on their current use and experience leveraging retail media. The study also looked at their strategic focus for the sector over the next 12 months.
Retail Media is No Longer an Emerging Channel
The results demonstrate that retail media is a key part of advertising strategies with 92% of advertisers and 74% of agencies already partnering with retailers to reach consumers. Of the small amount that are not engaged with retail media as an advertising channel, 88% of advertisers and 77% of agencies plan to do so in the next 12 months.
First-Party Data Strategy is a Key Opportunity
Data, in particular first-party data, is a key opportunity within retail media, largely driven by the deprecation of the third-party cookie. More than a third of buyers cite this as one of the key drivers of retail media adoption and the majority are already working on their first-party data strategy. Whilst 91% of buyers have a first-party data strategy in place, 49% are still working towards scaling their first-party data strategy.
Scale and Ad Tech Key Challenges to Overcome
As with any new advertising channel, retail media is not without its challenges. A third of respondents cited ‘scale’ and ‘integration with other advertising technologies’ as their top two barriers. Buyers want to be able to purchase their advertising via one or a few technology partners and the lack of retail media ad tech integration remains a stumbling block.
Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist, IAB Europe comments on the factors driving the growth of retail media in Europe: “Retail Media in Europe is already an €8bn market and growing double-digit despite economic headwinds. The pandemic-induced rise of e-commerce, paired with retailers’ first party data in a world of signal loss, and the ability to combine ad exposure and conversion into a single platform are key market drivers. We see further potential for off-site retail media to integrate retailer’s role more widely in the upper marketing funnel.”
“Our research with IAB Europe shows how third-party cookie deprecation has accelerated the adoption of this channel since it offers the benefits of first-party data with closed loop attribution. However, there are still pain points related to scale and technology that are creating challenges for retailers and brands,” comments Paul Longo, Global Head of Retail Media Sales, Microsoft Advertising. “We are passionate about working with both retailers and brands to deliver solutions that drive meaningful business outcomes; solutions that offer retailers the tools and platforms they need to drive scale, efficiency, and performance for brands, and that enable brands to capitalise on this opportunity to reach high value audiences.”
Laura Badea, Commerce Partner, Wavemaker, commented: “The new study from IAB Europe and Microsoft confirms what we have witnessed in the last 12-18 months – the shaping of retail media as a key element in the strategic channel mix. Retail media is no longer seen as bottom-funnel activation; the development of site-serve capabilities and tech solutions which allow advertisers to deploy audience segments built with retailers’ 1st party data across the entire web has enabled the conversation to shift from brand-led to commercial-led outcomes.
The work of the new retail media working group - launched by IAB Europe in October - is therefore critical in helping to define a unified vision and standards to underpin the fast growth that moves at different levels of speed across sectors and markets.”
Amir Rasekh, Director of Nectar360, said: “The results from the IAB Europe and Microsoft study show that retail media presents a real opportunity for brands to reach consumers effectively. We have been building our data-driven Retail Media capability across Sainsbury’s and Argos for many years, with the aim of driving enhanced levels of personalisation for our customers and strong returns for clients.”
IAB Europe launched its Retail Media Working Group to enable collaborative conversations, provide education and insights, and create recommendations to shape and define this exciting advertising space. The new working group is open to all IAB Europe members and will provide education on the retail media landscape, the benefits, and use cases as well as insights and standards to enable the market to continue to grow.
Download the IAB Europe and Microsoft Industry Insider to access the survey insights and perspectives from the industry.
IAB Europe has been working with IAB Canada and IAB Techlab to build the Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) for the Canadian ecosystem. The TCF is designed to unify data privacy laws across Europe, and is the only consent solution built for the industry by the industry. The newly launched TCF Canada will act as a roadmap for publishers, technology vendors, agencies, advertisers and digital marketers to ensure they are working under appropriate legal purposes for processing personal data in the Canadian market. Please refer to the below press release from IAB Canada for more information:
November 28, 2022, Toronto, Ontario Canada: IAB Canada, the national trade association and thought leader for the Canadian interactive marketing and advertising industry, in partnership with IAB Tech Lab and IAB Europe, today announced the launch of the Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) for Canada.
TCF Canada acts as a roadmap for publishers, technology vendors, agencies, advertisers and digital marketers to ensure they are working under appropriate legal purposes for processing personal data in the Canadian market.
“As the industry moves towards privacy-first solutions to addressing audiences online, the launch of TCF Canada represents a major milestone for ad tech. Standardized definitions and reliable frameworks based on signals, help drive solid industry codes of conduct,” said Sonia Carreno, President, IAB Canada, “global collaboration with our members and peers over the past two years has resulted in a pressure-tested, scalable framework that meets the needs of the ecosystem today with an eye towards the future-state of advertising in a privacy-first world.”
The TCF provides technical specifications and policy documents to help players in the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem clearly and consistently communicate with end users about how their data is being used, while also providing an opportunity for users to object and manage their consent preferences. It is a framework for publishers, technology vendors, agencies and advertisers to clearly and consistently communicate with end users about how their data is being used, while also providing an opportunity for users to withdraw their consent.
TCF Canada is another critical piece in industry’s effort to increase consumer transparency and choice, management by digital properties of consent and compliance, and industry collaboration that centres on standardization.
“Two years ago, IAB Tech Lab committed to delivering a platform for vendors and Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) to access cross-jurisdictional compliance signals in a standardized way. We delivered on that promise with the launch of the Global Privacy Platform (GPP) last month.” said Anthony Katsur, CEO IAB Tech Lab, “IAB Canada’s TCF string presents the first of many signals that will address the patchwork of privacy obligations across international markets.”
All vendors and CMPs can now register to participate in TCF Canada at the updated registration site here. Registration for TCF Canada includes the opportunity to register for both TCF Canada and TCF V 2.0 (for GDPR compliance) Existing participants in IABs TCF V 2.0 (for GDPR compliance) can update their details to include TCF Canada registration.
The registration process for vendors requires adherence to the TCF Policy and Terms & Conditions.
Publishers can use the Global Vendor List (GVL) to view the vendors who are participating in the TCF Canada, and to determine which vendors to include in the transparency and consent user interface they make available on their website.
Appropriate time will be given for the Canadian market to adopt the framework providing publisher websites and Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) with an appropriate timeframe in which to adopt TCF Canada. While also providing the vendors they work with sufficient time to develop and implement the code needed to adhere to the protocol of TCF Canada. In Q1 of 2023 the compliance program will be put into operation and CMPs will be required to undergo and pass a CMP validation to ensure they are operating under the policies of the framework. Those who do not comply will be removed from the program.
To find out more about TCF Canada or to register please visit our website and if you have any questions please reach out to tcfcanada@iabcanada.com.
Over 1000 Industry Professionals Share Their Investment Drivers, Barriers, and Operational Models
Brussels, 29th September 2022, IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem, today announced the results of its annual ‘Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising Study’.
Now in its eighth year, this study has become an industry benchmark and helpful insight to show how programmatic advertising attitudes, adoption and strategies are evolving. This year the study tripled in responses with over 1000 industry professionals taking part across 29 markets in Europe. The respondents represent four stakeholder groups - advertisers, agencies, publishers, and ad tech vendors - to ascertain the views and directions from the entire ecosystem. More than half of the respondents across advertisers, agencies and publishers manage annual advertising budgets of €1m or above.
Nick Welch, Head of EMEA Programmatic Sales at IAS and Programmatic Trading Committee Chair at IAB Europe said: The "Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising 2022 Study' serves as an important annual benchmark towards programmatic strategies in digital advertising. The widening of the research shows its focus across various players in the industry from multiple markets. We're grateful for all the respondents to the study and helping set the agenda for the coming 12 months. Even amongst the backdrop of tightening budgets and further media scrutiny, it's encouraging to see that investment in programmatic is likely to increase. Alongside this, we're witnessing tremendous appetite across growing environments such as CTV and audio. However, marketers must play a crucial role in these areas, ensuring that balance is found between optimising media spend, data transparency and delivering a targeted and enjoyable consumer experience."
Positive Outlook Driven by Connected TV
All stakeholders (74% of advertisers, 80% of agencies and 68% of publishers) are expecting their programmatic investment to increase over the next 12 months. There seems to be consensus around connected TV as a key growth area; more than 50% of all stakeholder groups cite this as a key to programmatic growth over the next 12 months. Voice, almost non-existent as key to growth in previous years - makes a strong appearance this year with 32% of advertisers and 28% of agencies citing this as a key growth area.
Commenting further on the investment trends, James Collins, SVP, Media Network, Rakuten Advertising said “The annual Attitudes to Programmatic Report from IAB Europe is an important indicator for the industry on the opportunities and challenges for programmatic advertising. It’s positive to see that CTV remains the largest growth area for programmatic, with key learnings in this report hopefully the industry can take a step closer to capitalising on this opportunity.”
Media Cost Efficiencies Are Key to Investment
More than a quarter of advertisers and agencies ranked cost efficiencies as the most important driver for programmatic investment. This is closely followed by granularity of controls and transparency of reporting. Advertisers also cite costs as a barrier to investment; 22% ranked it as the number 1 barrier. Quality of media is also a concern (38% ranked this as the first or second barrier to investment). For agencies, hiring and training staff is a key barrier to programmatic investment.
Advertisers Shift from In-Housing to a More Dynamic Approach
In 2021 50% of advertisers said they had an in-house model. This seems to have dropped significantly to 16% in 2022. There seems to be a more hybrid or dynamic approach with advertisers tapping into a range of methods such as outsourcing to a DSP, independent trading desk etc. This is perhaps being driven by the struggle to source the correct talent, paving the way for consultancies to play a more vital role in the process.
Interaction and Quality Metrics Are Key to Measurement
When asked which metrics are important to evaluate display campaigns that are traded programmatically, the majority of advertisers cited social interactions as the most important, as opposed to sales which was the top metric in 2021 (59% vs 37%). For agencies and publishers, it is in delivering quality metrics (60% and 53% respectively) that is most important.
Shift in the Type of Data Used for Audience Targeting
The study shows a decrease in the use of first-party data alongside an increase in second-party data. Whilst 2021 showed first-party data was the priority for advertisers, agencies, and publishers in 2021, this is now ranked third behind second-party data (the most popular priority averaging 57% with agencies leading at 60%) and third-party at 49%.
The report, written by industry experts from IAB Europe’s membership, and forms part of a comprehensive programme of pan-European educational and guidance outputs published by the IAB Europe Programmatic Trading Committee. The full report with accompanying graphs can be downloaded from IAB Europe’s website HERE.
About IAB Europe
IAB Europe is the European-level association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem. Through its membership of media, technology and marketing companies and national IABs, its mission is to lead political representation and promote industry collaboration to deliver frameworks, standards and industry programmes that enable business to thrive in the European market.
Authored by Industry Leaders from Across Europe
Provides insights and guidance for buyers starting to explore eCommerce and retail media opportunities
7th September, Brussels, Belgium: IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital and marketing ecosystem has today released its ‘Guide to Ecommerce for Digital Advertising’ to provide an introduction to eCommerce and retail media advertising in Europe. The Guide, which is aimed at buyers that are starting to explore opportunities in this category, provides insights into how e-commerce works, the available ad formats, and considerations and best practices for the digital advertising ecosystem.
As people increasingly use online channels to shop for goods and services, the relative importance of eCommerce and retail media in the broader marketing mix is only going to grow and IAB Europe estimates that it could reach €24.8bn by 2026.
This introductory Guide highlights some of the ad formats, buying methods, measurement options and key considerations and best practices for buyers using eCommerce retail media advertising. As the category develops, IAB Europe will continue to support buyers and the whole ecosystem in their retail media journeys. Working across the industry, we will continue to provide advice, recommendations, and market intelligence as appropriate.
IAB Europe’s Chief Economist, Daniel Knapp comments “Since the pandemic, Europe has seen an explosion of retail media networks. Fuelled by changing consumer shopping habits, 1st party data and closed-loop attribution, ad spend is following quickly. Retail media ad spend in Europe was €7.9bn in 2021. Although that includes Amazon with an estimated 75% share, endemic retailers and commerce platforms are growing market share. As the looming recession puts a dent in ad spend growth, we expect retail media to outperform the market.”
Commenting on the value of ecommerce and retail media advertising for brands, David Sequeira, Managing Director EMEA, Skai said “We are at a time where advertising budgets require more accountability, consumers demand more personalized experiences and data deprecation makes open web advertising more challenging. Brands are rethinking their marketing strategies in favour of channels where consumers are open to advertising, not reliant on cookies and can easily be tied back to the bottom line. Retail media, with its rich first-party data, ticks all of the boxes.”
Commenting on the importance of good creative for Ecommerce advertising, Tom Ellis, Director of Ad Creative, Yahoo! Said ‘"Formats like shoppable ads have brought ecommerce opportunities right up to the top of the marketing funnel. They don't have to be complex and they are not complex to produce in order to deliver great results and conversions for clients. Having a clear call to action, price and product image is key, combined with partners that can place the ads in the right environments and context to inspire action in consumers in the moment."
It’s been a collaborative effort to produce this European-level industry guide for Ecommerce Advertising, with contributors including Criteo, PubMatic, Perpetua, Skai, Xandr and Yahoo!
The Guide to Ecommerce for Digital Advertising can be downloaded from IAB Europe’s website here.
98% of buyers agree that buying inventory in a quality media environment is important
92% prefer to spend their advertising budget with suppliers that adhere to industry standards
Brussels, Belgium, 14 July 2022 – IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising and marketing ecosystem, today released results of a new survey, which surveyed buyers to identify their digital advertising quality concerns and understand their attitudes towards industry standards, and different types of inventory.
The survey, developed by national IABs within IAB Europe’s European Quality Working Group, found that the role of industry standards, such as the IAB UK Gold Standard, Digital Ad Trust in France or IAB Poland QUALID, is paramount. 84% of all buyers said that they are willing to pay a premium price for higher quality, trusted inventory whilst 92% said that they prefer to spend their advertising budget with suppliers that adhere to industry standards. Additionally 73% said that they check if a media owner or supplier adheres to industry standards before spending budget with them. Only 19% of buyers that responded to the survey said that they don’t mind about industry standards at all.This decreased to 6% if the buyer was in a market with a national quality standard.
A vast amount of work is being undertaken in Europe to improve and uphold quality standards in digital advertising as outlined in the IAB Europe Quality Initiatives Navigator. In 2017, IAB UK created the Gold Standard in order to tackle quality concerns. Fast forward to today, there are now seven markets with a national quality standard or scheme in place. The results suggest these standards help raise awareness of quality concerns, such as brand safety and ad fraud; buyers in markets with a national standard vs. those in a market without were more likely to be aware of those concerns.
In terms of the key quality concerns, the survey found that when buying digital advertising, viewability and brand safety are considered the biggest issues for advertisers and agencies. 89% said they were concerned or very concerned about viewability and 79% said the same about brand safety.
The survey also asked buyers about the areas most in need of the development of standards and CTV came out on top closely followed by Audio and DOOH.
Marie-Clare Puffett, Senior Manager, Marketing & Industry Programmes at IAB Europe said: “The results of the study we are releasing today, provides reassurance, for the national IABs that already have a quality standard in place and those that are in the process of creating one, that buyers value those standards when spending their budgets within our ecosystem. The work of our European Quality Working Group is important to ensure harmonisation so that International businesses don’t have to adhere to a multitude of different standards across Europe.”
Tim Elkington, Chief Digital Officer, IAB UK commented: “The fact that 92% of advertisers and agencies prefer to spend their budget with suppliers that adhere to industry standards underscores the vital importance of creating shared standards at a national level - such as the Gold Standard in the UK - as well as building consistency of standards between different markets. Increasing collaboration between IABs can play an essential role here, making it easier for our members to navigate and adhere to digital advertising best practice at both a national and international level.”
Wlodek Schmidt, President, IAB Poland and Chair, IAB Europe Board of Directors commented on the importance of a national quality standard in a fast growing market: “In 2021, digital advertising accounted for half of all ad spend in Poland, meaning Poland was on par with the more mature markets in terms of digital ad spend. With this in mind, we as an industry need to focus our efforts to combat cybercrime and advertising fraud more than ever. Following the example of the most advanced markets in Western Europe and the USA, IAB Poland established the QUALID Programme which aims to develop, collect, and promote positive and effective solutions that will contribute to improving the quality of digital advertising in Poland.”
Access the results here
Notes:
Markets with a national quality scheme - UK, France, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Italy
Markets without a scheme - Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine
For more information, please contact:
Lauren Wakefield, IAB Europe (wakefield@iabeurope.eu / +44 7828 514 193)
Marie-Clare Puffett, IAB Europe (puffett@iabeurope.eu / +44 7973 836 917)
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