The UK digital ad market in 2018 and beyond: IAB insights
2018 has been a huge year for digital advertising, with H1 this year showing that the total UK digital advertising market is now worth £6.4bn, up 15% y-o-y. Digital video continues to transform and innovate the digital advertising experience, optimising how brands tell their stories online. The IAB’s Video Steering Group shared their insights on what 2018 meant for the industry and what the year ahead has in store. Publicis Media Exchange, OMD UK, Inskin Media and Unruly shared their thoughts on the following key question:
IAB UK Video Steering Group / iab uk
In terms of the digital advertising industry, what did 2018 mean for you and what do you expect 2019 has in store for our industry?
Martin O’Boyle, MD partnerships UK, PMX
2018 has seen a renewed focus on the biggest digital screen a consumer owns – the television. New technology and players in this area have increased possibilities for both consumers and advertisers. Across 2019 I expect to see an intensified spotlight on TV screen advertising, with ever greater levels of addressability, automation and measurement. There will be an increased demand for effective TV screen advertising and we will be driving this for our clients.
Richard Cameron: head of addressable planning, OMD UK
For me 2018 has seen addressable media establish itself, not just in the traditional digital display and video spaces, but across OOH, Audio and differing AV platforms. I expect 2019 to be more of the same, with continual disruption giving away to increased opportunities across an ever-evolving addressable media landscape.
The ability to fuse datasets with an increasing array of canvases to showcase storytelling means the marriage between Science and Art in media has never been better.
Matt Newcomb, COO, Inskin Media
Consolidation and the survival of only those that truly add to the value chain will be an ongoing theme. We expect, and hope, to see the industry taking a more objective view on the value of factors such as advertising context, which have fallen off the table due to a overt focus on data and automated systems. In short, a return to reason within a progressive, programmatic ecosystem.
Norm Johnston, global CEO, Unruly
In a post GDPR, post Cambridge Analytica world, people have started to wake up to the value of their personal data. Initiatives such as Datawallet have already been established, promising to pay consumers in exchange for their data, while Good-Loop gives 50% of the advertiser’s budget to the charity of the viewer’s choice. The IAB in the US has just published its playbook for opt-In value exchange ads and 90% of marketers surveyed by OpenX agreed that video with permission generates stronger engagement metrics for ads compared with other formats. In 2019, we could see consumers taking a more active role - rating video ads for effectiveness or enjoyment in exchange for incentives. Or perhaps tipping the publisher to fund quality journalism from within an ad unit.