Member Research: AdEx Benchmark H1 2018 Study

Brussels, 12 November 2018 - IAB Europe, in collaboration with IHS Markit, has today published the AdEx Benchmark H1 2018 Study revealing that digital advertising grew by 10% to €25.7bn in the first half of this year.

The Study reveals that mobile ad spend crossed the €10bn mark and is approaching a 50% share of digital ad spend. The latest European Programmatic Market Sizing Report published by IAB Europe and IHS Markit shows that more than half of programmatic display spend is in mobile formats.

Video grew by more than 4 times total display and now accounts for 30% of the display segment. This expansion of video has increased the total display’s share of the overall digital ad spend market. 

Display advertising growth continues to outpace search*; display grew by 12.3% and search by 10.2%. Display reached over €10bn in H1 2018 representing 40% of total digital advertising whilst search accounted for 46%. Display advertising continues to experience strong growth in Central and Eastern Europe; in H1 2018 it grew by 17.9% compared to 11.2% in Western Europe. Indeed, the CEE region helped to drive the overall growth with an increase of 17% whilst the more mature markets in Western Europe experienced a growth of 9%. 

Looking ahead IHS Markit estimates that digital ad spend will surpass €50bn in 2018. 

Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe said, “The half year AdEx Benchmark Study provides an update on the status of the digital advertising market in Europe. It continues to confirm the growth of video and mobile advertising as marketers look to digital as a brand building medium.” 

Anton Kopytov, Partner Technology Consulting, Mindshare and Chair, IAB Europe Research Committee said, "The latest AdEx study demonstrates an understanding in the market that consumers barely separate their digital and analogue lives, that digital factors into every channel and means of communication. The lines between traditional and digital are blurring driving the growth of cross-channel video strategies and resurgence of audio on multiple platforms, including desktop, smart TV and mobile devices. GDPR has had an impact on data-driven activations in first half of 2018 making key market players cautious, but the general impact has been positive in building trust in the digital industry and we see recovery in the second half of 2018. Overall outlook for the consistent market growth is positive both in the East and the West of Europe." 

Daniel Knapp, Executive Director TMT at IHS Markit, said, "Uncertainty associated with GDPR impacted advertiser confidence in most markets, causing slower growth in digital ad spend between March and June. Demand conditions are set to improve in the second half of the year as market participants navigate the regulatory environment. Demand for video advertising and search remained strong in the first half of 2018, and CEE markets recorded the highest growth as they are progressively closing the digital maturity gap with the leading Western markets." 

The Study incorporates data from the following online advertising formats: 

• Display

• Paid-for-search 

• Classifieds and Directories 

Additional segmentations are: 

• Video (In-Stream and Out-Stream) 

• Mobile (Display and Search) 

• Social

The Study can be accessed here.

*Paid-for-search