Research into programmatic advertising spend has shown revenues grew by 23% in 2019 to top €23 billion, according to the IAB Europe Attitudes to Programmatic Study which analysed 350 advertisers, publishers, agencies and ad-tech vendors from 31 markets, illuminating several key growth drivers.

According to the report, there were a number of key drivers resulting in the rise of programmatic ad spend in 2019. Use of data was the biggest driver, which saw an increase of 69% to 80% over the last 12 months.

Furthermore, targeting efficiencies was another key driver among agencies in pushing more investment within programmatic advertising.

With advertisers spending more in programmatic, there’s been a rise in ads.txt inventory with 52% publishers stating they were selling more than 81% of their ads.txt inventory

Transparent business model

The study also indicated a shift from buy-side toward hybrid models with the proportion of advertisers embracing the latter, doubling to 30% in 2020.

Supply chain transparency remains the single biggest hindrance, with advertisers urging greater control of inventory as well as improved transparency and clarity of fees from partners. This move has promoted two-thirds of ad tech vendors to invest in a more robust and transparent business model, according to IAB Europe.

Connected TV on the rise

Meanwhile, 77% of display and over 50% of video are now being traded via programmatic methods according to the report. However, it was Connected Television (CTV) which impressed across all categories in terms of growth with the sector expected to grow significantly by 2021 — with 70% of advertisers and 61% of agencies regarding CTV as one of their programmatic growth areas for the next 12 months.

Elsewhere, publishers have been looking into audio with equal attention (46%) between the channel and CTV. Advertisers stated that audio will drive further growth in the coming months while a third of agencies said they’re prioritising ads budget to Digital Out-Of-Home.

“Each year the survey draws out the key concerns and opportunities that impact all of digital marketing. It enables the committee and the wider industry to devise new and amend current strategies to tackle key issues or take advantage of opportunities for the next year,” said David Goddard, senior business development business solutions EMEA, DoubleVerify and chair of IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee.