Programmatic Stayin' Alive In Europe; Facebook Is Big Early Winner In 2020 Race

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GDPR Who?

GDPR hasn’t stunted the growth of programmatic revenue in Europe. An IAB Europe programmatic sales report finds the category grew 33% in 2018 to $18.4 million, The Drum reports. Even excluding the impact of social media ads, programmatic revenue was up 26.6% to $6 billion. Seventy percent of display inventory and half of all online video is now traded programmatically in Europe. Most European publishers have installed ads.txt, but adoption on the buy side is relatively low. “In the context of this evolution, it is encouraging to see the majority of stakeholders expecting an increase in programmatic investments of up to 80% over the next 12 months,” said IAB Europe CEO Townsend Feehan. “It is clear however that talent, the low buy-side adoption of ads.txt and supply chain transparency remain impediments to this growth.” More.

Political Gains

Facebook has been the go-to platform for early fundraising and voter acquisition campaigns on both sides of the aisle. Democratic primary campaigns have been forced into a Facebook advertising frenzy, with new party rules that institute polling and donor minimums to qualify for debates, and a score of candidates competing for the limited universe of liberal primary supporters. Democratic campaigns have offered $100 or more per new donor, regardless of whether they donate $1 or $1,000. Ten of the 23 candidates failed to qualify for the debate this month, the Boston Globe reports. And it isn’t just Democrats all-in on Facebook. President Trump’s reelection campaign spends more on Facebook than any other media channel. Facebook is even pulling away from Google. Democrats have spent $29 million on Facebook and $8.4 million on Google, including YouTube. Trump is almost even on Google advertising with $8.3 million, but has spent $17 million on Facebook. More.

Facts On The Ground

Factual, a location data company, is relaunching products in Europe after it retreated from the bloc last year due to concerns of potential GDPR violations. Many location data and cross-device companies abandoned their media businesses or shut down EU operations entirely, including Drawbridge and Factual. But Factual says it’s ready to resume location data sales that comply with the GDPR, including new contracts and consent data features in Europe, Business Insider reports. “We don’t expect for the scale to reach pre-GDPR volume,” said Factual CMO Brian Czarny. The company recently hired IBM Watson EMEA vet Ross Webster to lead its European business. Even if there is less data available since GDPR, there’s a “pent-up demand” in Europe for location information within the open ecosystem. More.

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