A consortium of leading adtech industry players has joined forces with major European broadcasters, streamers, and agency groups to launch a new initiative to support the development and growth of data-driven programmatic TV advertising in Europe’s major markets.
The move sees The Trade Desk, PubMatic, Equativ, Magnite, Cadent and Adform, collaborate with media, tech and advertising advisory group The Project X Initiative to launch the European Programmatic TV Initiative (EPTVI).
The group maintains that TV advertising in Europe is now at a pivotal moment, as audiences and viewing continue to shift from linear to streaming and online services.
Programmatic technologies, leveraging data and automation to streamline ad buying and delivery against TV content across different platforms, hold out the promise of enhanced efficiency, targeting, and measurement. However, many in the industry believe critical barriers – technological, operational, commercial, strategic – are hindering the full realisation of these benefits.
Although many of Europe’s leading commercial broadcasters have developed advanced sales platforms, engagement with the wider programmatic ecosystem is often restricted.
According to the 2023 IAB/PwC Digital Adspend report, published in April, advertisers are seeking out digital ad formats that capitalise on the engagement offered by the rich array of entertainment online, with CTV spend up 21%.
Even so, a separate study conducted by DoubleVerify, in collaboration with IAB Europe, seemed to pour cold water on the claims that CTV is data-driven marketing nirvana.
The report, which surveyed over 420 senior clients, complements the results of an analysis conducted by DoubleVerify last year, which found that one third of impressions are served into CTV environments where TVs are turned off.
And there are also concerns about the commoditisation of premium TV inventory and a loss of control over data and client relationships remain significant barriers.
Conversely, ad agencies and advertisers are increasingly keen to leverage their preferred buying tools and achieve operational efficiencies, rather than navigating numerous proprietary media owner platforms.
As a result, the full potential of data-driven TV is still to be unlocked, with estimates suggesting connected TV advertising spend in Europe will amount to 10% of linear TV advertising in 2024 compared to 38% in the US, and little consensus about the way forward.
This new initiative aims to address these challenges by bringing together key stakeholders from across the TV advertising ecosystem, including broadcasters, streamers, TV platform providers, agencies, and advertisers.
The members of the initiative plan to work closely and collaboratively with participants across the European market, exploring critical challenges and looking for practical solutions that can support buyers and sellers.
The initiative will be discussed in more detail at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, where Equativ will host a panel discussion on Unlocking the Potential of Programmatic TV at the Equativ Content Hub today (June 17).
The initiative’s key objectives are to establish clear definitions and terminology for programmatic TV to create a common understanding across the industry.
It also plans to set out the potential benefits and drawbacks of the shift to programmatic TV and identify ways to mitigate concerns and barriers to adoption.
Meanwhile, it aims to showcase successful programmatic TV campaigns across Europe to demonstrate its effectiveness and inspire others and develop a roadmap for the future development of programmatic TV in Europe, with recommendations for different stakeholders.
The initiative will culminate in an industry summit and report in the autumn.
PubMatic EMEA senior director of CTV/OTT Hitesh Bhatt said: “The European TV landscape has long been challenged by being very fragmented, and this has hindered the development of a standardised programmatic ecosystem. It’s time to get everyone – from broadcasters and streamers to OEMs and agencies – around the table to try to address this so that we can enable TV in Europe to thrive amid huge changes in viewing behaviour and media buying practices.
“Through our partnership with the Project X Initiative, we aim to help all players build their programmatic capabilities and develop innovative approaches that will simplify what is currently a complex ad trading landscape.
“As established digital players enter the TV space with years of data-driven experience behind them, we need to embrace a collaborative spirit to establish best practices and unlock programmatic TV’s full potential.”
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