Half of display ad spending in Europe last year was transacted programmatically, according to a new report from IAB Europe. That follows a prediction last year from Zenith that programmatic trading would account for a majority of global digital display ad spending by year’s end.
Europe seems to have lagged the US in its move to a “programmatic-first” display ad market: eMarketer estimated last year that 73% of US digital display ad spending would be traded programmatically.
All told, the European programmatic display market is estimated to have totaled €8.1B last year, more than double it’s 2014 total (€3.4B). Although Central & Eastern Europe is growing slightly more quickly than Western Europe, the European programmatic market is dominated by Western European companies, to the tune of €7.5B.
For context, the US programmatic display ad market is sized at around $25 billion.
Programmatic Making Inroads in Video
In its report, the IAB Europe notes that programmatic trading is heaviest in the mobile ad market, accounting for almost two-thirds (65%) of spending (€3.5B).
Even so, programmatic video ad spending surged last year by 155% year-over-year, and now represents more than 45% of video ad spending, at almost €1.4B.
