Joëlle Frijters is CEO of Improve Digital. Here she gives her retrospective on 2011 - as well as listing 5 key trends for 2012.

“Call it Private Ad Exchange, Call it private market place, call it anything you like…. The bottom line is that successful European publishers will take ownership of the crossover between quality content and audience buying in 2012”

Joëlle Frijters, CEO Improve Digital

It's that time of year of again - the 2011 end-of-year overview. From a sell-side perspective it has been an interesting year. RTB is growing and the adoption of media trading by agencies and other media buyers is transforming the European advertising landscape. Let's look at some of the major developments that defined the year in Europe.

2011: RTB Going Mainstream In Europe

At the beginning of 2011, RTB was still a marginal buying process in the major European markets. The audience networks were first to buy audience with real time pricing decisions. It was only in mid-2011 that RTB really took off on a larger scale in mainland Europe.

This year saw agencies launch their trading desks and technology platforms. Strategic investments were made to ensure their place as significant players in the future of the European eco-system.

The Agencies Get Serious About Ad Trading With Launch Of Multiple Agency Trading Desks

The agencies have watched ad networks enviously for the past 10 years and are now following in their footsteps, investing further in technology to gain marketing insight and automate media trading. This is ultimately driving more and more of their media buying through automated channels.

This shift in strategy by agencies changes the resources needed away from media sales skill and towards trading, analysis and strategy.

Most of the big agencies in Europe launched their "trading desks" in 2011. Agency trading desks now operate in most of the major European markets. As they ramp up their operations, expect to see smaller European markets being serviced by the agency trading desk in 2012

2011: The Early Adopters Among Publishers Brought Their Private Market Places/Exchanges To Market

What did publishers do in 2011 to protect their positions and capitalise on their unique audience insights? Some put their heads in the sand and decided to continue with existing models. But many forward-thinking publishers laid the first foundations to become key players in changing advertising landscape by building their own market places. In some cases RTB was the only ingredient; in others all non-guaranteed (trading desks, CPC, CPA, CPM, and ad networks) was included.

These savvy publishers are securing their independence - without relying on 3rd party exchanges. They want to ensure that they benedit from the ever growing budgets now being spent by the agencies in the automated channel.

So looking out to 2012, what kind of trends are we likely to see for the European market? Here are five to look out for:

1. We’ll See More And More Audience-Based Buying

Depending on the execution of the EU directive we will see audience buying as one of the most interesting growth areas for 2012. Data analysis will be re-born and the skill-sets that drove the offline data-marketing world for the past 20 years will be back with us. Remember, it’s not the volume of data that counts, it’s the quality and manipulation of that data that is key. Of course all of this is pending the execution of the EU directive, as this might impact the local European situation.

2. Publishers Will Look For More Control Over How They Trade

Call it private ad exchanges. Call it private market places. Call it anything you like.
The bottom line is that through ‘neutral technologies’, savvy publishers will take ownership of the crossover between quality content, context and audience buying in 2012.

The competition to lead the market in 2012 will heat up and the fight for control needs to come from the publishers being able to galvanise themselves around their audiences, content and technology. With the growth of the budgets spent through trading desks, more and more publisher will seek to own technology-driven environments where they decide who buys what audience and content - against what price and when.

Beyond 2012, these platforms will play roles way beyond RTB. Technology platforms will be where future selling and buying of media is done. It will be faster, better, efficient and more targeted.

3. Agency Up Their Spend Through The Automated Channel

2011 was the year of launching the Agency Trading desks and building the right teams and expertise. In 2012 we will see the budgets from these desks scale - with spend increasing significantly through ad exchanges and private ad exchanges/market places over the next twelve months.

4. We Will See The First Advertisers Launching Their Own Trading Desks

In 2012 we will see many more advertisers connecting themselves directly to the market. Needless to say this will be a huge opportunity for publishers that have set up their own controlled environment to capture direct spend.

5. The Emergence Of The Publisher Trading Desk

Some publishers will look to take it even further in 2012 than just being on the sell side of the eco-system. These publishers will use 1st party data to buy inventory from 3rd parties through their own trading desk, capturing the value of their data at larger scale. The Publisher Trading Desk will compete directly with other trading desks - as well as open up new demand in the market.

The European digital landscape will continue to evolve rapidly in 2012 - audience, data access, consumer protection, premium strategy and automation all have their part to play in the new multi-platform digital future.

Successful publishers will take on a long term view and structure their businesses around their assets. Those publishers will look to take advantage of the new trading dynamic, and 2012 will be the year when they put their strategies to work. Those that don't prepare their business will not only be leaving money on the table but will also be left behind by the rapidly changing European advertising eco-system.

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