iabeurope.euREPORT SEPTEMBER 2019ATTITUDES TO PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING2019Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising September 2019TABLE OF CONTENTSEXECUTIVE SUMMARY . 31. INTRODUCTION . 52. METHODOLOGY . 63. CURRENT ADOPTION digital out-of-home, audio andconnected TV are identified as areas thatstakeholders will invest in.However, there are still challenges that existand hamper adoption of programmatictrading; namely, fraud, brand safety andsupply chain transparency. Brands want toable to use programmatic to target a specificaudience under safe and premiumconditions. The challenge is, these arebespoke to each buyer, not to mention thecontrols to deliver on these KPIs are differenton every platform and the skills needed toprotect the brand through programmaticmediums is even more challenging to find.There is also more market awareness andeducation needed as the number of buyersbuying ads.txt verified inventory is lowcompared to the number of publishersselling ads.txt inventory.The study shows a clear shift to hybrid models for programmatic trading as the number of advertisers with an in-house operation overtakes the number outsourcing to an agency, alongside an increase in the number using external consultancies.3Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising September 2019In terms of measurement, buyers are stilllooking at sales KPIs as the key metrics forevaluating their investment in programmaticdisplay. In large part this can be attributed toan overarching shift in the market, whereagencies are shifting from impression-focusto action-focus and tailoring campaignsaround the brands core-business goals.Its clear that advertisers now hold greaterprogrammatic knowledge, thus the strategicalignment of programmatic to a brands keybusiness objectives is diversifying howadvertisers engage with media buying.4In this dynamic industry we still see marketing fundamentals hold true to deliver effective campaigns, buyers want the ability to define and reach their audiences cross-channel. The need for great data and accurate audience targeting remain key reasons for investing in programmatic. Were also seeing an evolution in digital as its ability to deliver brand campaigns is increasingly recognised. Yes, there are continued concerns around fraud. But, as the industry develops tools, practices and approaches to drive quality and increase transparency, this is all helping build greater trust and confidence in digital advertising.Lisa Kalyuzhny, Senior Director Advertiser Solutions EMEA,PubMatic“Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising September 20191. INTRODUCTIONIn order to understand the status ofprogrammatic adoption across Europe onboth the buy-side and sell-side of the digitaladvertising industry, IAB EuropesProgrammatic Trading Committee developedthe Attitudes to Programmatic Advertisingsurvey in 2015. Now in its fifth year, the studyhas become an industry benchmark to showhow programmatic advertising attitudes,adoption and strategies are evolving.The survey attracted respondents whocommand significant volumes of advertisingsupply and demand. Over 70% of therespondents across advertisers, agenciesand publishers manage annual advertisingbudgets of 1m or above. For the first time,IAB Europe surveyed ad tech vendors in the2019 study.The survey asked about the following areas: How much programmatic is used fordifferent formats (display, mobile andvideo) Drivers and barriers to programmaticinvestment Operational models used forprogrammatic Measurement and data strategy The future of programmatic investmentThe report, written by industry experts fromIAB Europes membership, forms part of acomprehensive programme of pan-European educational and guidance outputspublished by the IAB Europe ProgrammaticTrading Committee. Other outputs that maybe of interest: Transparency Guide for the DigitalAdvertising Supply Chain Header Bidding and Auction DynamicsWhite Paper Programmatic Mobile White Paper Key considerations for buy-side and sell-side programmatic strategies Using Data Effectively in ProgrammaticWhite Paper V2.0 with GDPR updatesThe previous versions of the Attitudes toProgrammatic report can be accessed viathe following links: 2018 2017 2016 20155Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising September 20192. METHODOLOGYAn online survey was used with the help ofthe national IAB network to ensure arepresentative sample across Europeanmarkets. The survey received approximately530 respondents between May and July2019. The responses came from advertisers,agencies, publishers and ad tech vendors in31 markets and respondents with both pan-European and Global remits.The majority of respondents wereprogrammatic or media buying specialists.IAB Europe members can access the full dataset by contacting Marie-Clare Puffett (contactdetails at the back of this report).677%11%12%Local remit Pan-European remit Global remitAdvertisers 58Agencies 194Publishers 131Ad Tech Vendors - 153 1%2%3%3%5%5%5%5%7%7%7%9%23%Audience Planning DirectorMedia PlannerBrand Manager/DirectorProgrammatic TraderMarketerMedia StrategistTechnology Dir ectorProgrammatic Media SalesMedia DirectorMedia SalesAdvertising OperationsProgrammatic Media DirectorHead of ProgrammaticFigure 1 Breakdown of respondents Figure 2Respondents job rolesAttitudes to Programmatic Advertising September 20193. CURRENT ADOPTION in 2019, 55% of agencies bought morethan 41% of their mobile inventory viaprogrammatic up from 28% in 2017.Video is a key driver of programmaticinvestment amongst advertisers; 55% ofadvertisers now buy more than 41% of theirvideo inventory via programmatic comparedto 32% in 2018. However, for agencies (55%in 2018; 50% in 2019) and publishers (32% in2018; 16% in 2019) there has been adecrease in the amount of video inventorythat they have traded programmatically.Where it is traded programmatically, video istraded via private market places (PMP); 16%of advertisers and 20% of agencies state thatthe majority of their video advertising isbought via a PMP. Open auctions are mostlyused for trading display and mobileinventory, with 18% of agencies, 13% ofadvertisers and 14% of publishers using anopen auction to buy or sell more than 80%of their display inventory. The same is truefor mobile, where 19% of agencies, 13% ofadvertisers and 16% of publishers use anopen auction to buy / sell more than 80% oftheir mobile inventory.752%34%26%44%28%25%41%33%15%42%57%30%41%54%41%32%55%32%55%59%48%42%55%45%55%50%16%0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%Advertis ers Agencies Publishers Advertis ers Agencies Publishers Advertis ers Agencies PublishersDisplay Mobile Video2017 2018 2019Figure 3Percentage of stakeholders that use programmatic to buy / sell more than 41% of their display, mobile video inventoryAttitudes to Programmatic Advertising September 2019Interestingly, agencies have cited a marginalincrease in traditional (non-automated)buying methods. While the increase is onlyslight, with a rise to 17% of agencies tradingover 61% of their display using traditionalmethods, up from 15% in 2018, its still apotential unexpected trend. This could bedue to the fact that the lines between directand programmatic guaranteed have begunto blur and programmatic guaranteed isincreasingly sitting within teams thatmanaged traditional digital buys for allstakeholders.Programmatic nativeProgrammatic investment in nativeadvertising remains low; 52% of advertisers,74% of agencies and 59% of publishersstated that less than 20% of theirprogrammatic trading budget is invested innative advertising. 24% of publishers alsostated that 0% of their programmatic tradingrevenue is invested in native advertising.8The low adoption of programmatic trading for native advertising shows that this is still a huge opportunity for growth in the market. While programmatic buying for display is standard practice today, there is still a knowledge gap among marketers on how to adapt their programmatic strategies for native. The shift of display campaigns toward native has started but there is still a lot more that needs to be done around customizing bidding, targeting, data and reporting before marketers can truly scale with native. Ads.txt adoptionWith the rise in advertiser investment inprogrammatic, its surprising more have notbeen taking advantage of industry initiativesdesigned to help improve the supply path ofinventory and reduce auction arbitrage. Only6% of advertisers and 26% of agencies arebuying more than 81% of verified ads.txtverified, this is despite a significantpercentage of both buy-side stakeholdersthat are concerned with the levels of fraudand brand safety (see section 4).Amongst publishers, ads.txt adoption ismuch higher with 56% of them selling morethan 81% of their inventory with an ads.txtfile attached. This suggests that the ads.txtinventory exists but more buyer educationand awareness is needed.“Agathe Rakowicz, Global Director, Programmatic Business, OutbrainAttitudes to Programmatic Advertising September 2019GDPR and consentFor the first time IAB Europe askedstakeholders about the percentage ofinventory bought that uses a consentmanagement platform (CMP) to gainconsent. 38% of publishers stated that 81%or more of their inventory is being bought viaa CMP, and 17% of buyers stated that theyare buying 81% of inventory with consentbeing passed. This data was collected beforeICO, CNIL and other regulatory bodiesreleased their stance on GDPR. There is likelyto be a sharp rise in the percentage ofinventory that is being bought and sold witha consent signal following these.9I hope the release of this years Attitudes to Programmatic report will be the catalyst for greater levels of APP-ads.txt for publishers, thus increasing the number of publishers in the higher percentiles of inventory that is verified, whilst also increasing buyside awareness of this simple, yet effective tool to tackle transparency and quality concerns.What is ads.txt?By creating a public record of Authorized Digital Sellers, ads.txt creates transparency in the inventory supply chain and gives publishers control over their inventory in the market, making it harder for bad actors to profit from selling counterfeit inventory across the ecosystem. As publishers adopt ads.txt, buyers will be able to more easily identify the Authorised Digital Sellers for a participating publisher, allowing brands to have confidence they are buying authentic publisher inventory.Find out more here.David Goddard, VP Global Programmatic Strategy, BBC Global News“Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising September 2019Operating modelsIn-house models continue to increaseamongst publishers but remain stagnantacross buy-side stakeholders. 65% ofpublishers now have an in-house modelcompared to 50% in 2018 and 66% ofagencies have an in-house trading deskcompared to 62% in 2018. Whilst thenumber of advertisers with an in-housemodel hasnt increased since 2018 (38% in2019 and in 2018), the number of with in-house operations is now higher than thenumber that outsource to an agency (24%).Therefore 2019 has really been about theemergence and development of hybridmodels. 21% (up from 16% in 2018) ofadvertisers now have a hybrid model.Where advertisers have previously workedwith independent trading desks or DSPs,they are now aligning with consultancies.Advertisers using consultancies forprogrammatic buying was 0% in 2018, risingto 7% in 2019. Its worth considering that thedefinitions of in-house operations may differslightly from 2018, based on therespondents of the survey. Where BrandManagers/Directors made up 9% of the totalrespondents in 2018, it was 3% in 2019,while Media Directors now represent 7%(down from 15%). In 2018 it was MediaDirectors and Heads of Programmatic whichwere the main contributors, where in 2019this is now Programmatic Media Directorsand Heads of Programmatic. Whilst this shiftmay indicate a change in advertiser roles dueto the importance of programmatic in themarketing mix, it may also indicate a bias inrespondents towards advertisers withdisproportionately advanced programmaticprograms, when compared to the widermarketplace.10