Prospects For Ubex Bright As European Digital Advertising Market Exceeds €55 Billion In 2018

The Ubex project is developing on a rapidly evolving and dynamic market as a recent study by IAB Europe has revealed that the European digital advertising market exceeded the €55 billion mark in 2019. The prospects for the market’s development in 2019 are even greater as historical data demonstrates.

IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising ecosystem, announced at its annual Interact conference in Warsaw, Poland, on 4 June, 2019, that digital advertising grew by 13.9% in 2018 to €55.1 billion. The dynamics were driven by strong growth in video, mobile and social spending. The growth is the fastest since 2011 and has seen the market more than double in size since 2012.

The AdEx Benchmark study is the definitive guide to the state of the European digital advertising market, covering 28 markets, and is now in its thirteenth year. In 2018, a total of twenty one markets saw double-digit growth from year to year.

Out-stream video and mobile both dominated the results in 2018, as they both grew by double-digits in all twenty eight markets involved in the study. Out-stream video grew by 44.7% on average, compared to in-stream at 19.7%. Overall, video grew by 30.9% to €7.6bn, thus accounting for 33% of the entire display market.

Search remains the largest online advertising category in terms of revenue with a growth of 12.5% and a market value of €25 billion. Social has been fueling display growth across Europe and growing by 33.7% from year to year and currently accounts for 49% of display. Total mobile ad spending grew by 31.4% in 2018 and reached €22.8bn, and now accounts for 41% of all digital ad spending across Europe.

“It is encouraging to see such healthy, double-digit growth across the entire region, driven largely by mobile and video. The digital advertising industry now contributes €55bn towards European Gross Domestic Product and is adding value to both mature and emerging markets. With digital advertising now accounting for 45 percent of all paid media advertising across the region and new European data protection rules making users more aware of their choices about how their data is processed, it is important that we focus on delivering privacy-first ad experiences that protect consumers and support Europe’s digital economy,” as Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe, commended on the results of the study.

“Mobile, video and social continue to drive growth across the region, with mobile now closing in on 50 percent of both display and search, and video accounting for a third of all display. These formats and environments reflect consumer engagement with a range of devices, for entertainment, utility and connection, demonstrating the diverse power of digital advertising to influence consumer decision-making,” as Dr. Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist of IAB Europe, evaluated the situation.

The IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark study divides the digital ad market into three categories: Display, Search and Classifieds and Directories. Growth in these advertising formats has been underpinned by shifting uses in devices and changing consumption patterns. In 2018, Display has closed the gap with Search, growing by 17.5 percent to account for 42.2 percent of all spend.

In 2018, the top five largest growth markets were the following:

Ukraine — 26.9 percent

Russia — 24.9 percent

Belarus — 23.6 percent

Czech Republic — 20.9 percent

Serbia — 20.1 percent

Norway entered the top 10 in 2018, with further gains by Spain and Sweden.

Top 10 rankings (by market size)

UK — €18.4bn

Germany — €7.2bn

France — €5.2bn

Russia — €4.1bn

Italy — €2.9bn

Netherlands — €2.2bn

Spain — €2.2bn

Sweden — €2.1bn

Switzerland — €2.0bn

Norway — €1.1bn

The full AdEx Benchmark 2018 Report will be published towards the end of June 2019.

The Ubex project continues to develop and the development team sees excellent prospects for the application of the platform on the markets mentioned in the IAB Europe study. Once the platform is fully launched, the Ubex project will certainly add to the growth of the advertising industry. Stay tuned for more news and updates from Ubex.