The European digital advertising market grew by 11.1% last year and has now reached 96.9 billion euros.
IAB Europe, the leading European organization for digital marketing and the marketing ecosystem whose Croatian branch is IAB Croatia, has published the 2023 Advertising Expenditure (AdEx) Benchmark Report – a thorough assessment of investment in online advertising over the past year for the leading 29 European markets. The report covers digital formats and channels that contributed to an annual digital advertising growth of 11.1% in 2023, culminating in with a total market value of 96.9 billion euros.
“The European AdEx not only brings extremely important insights into market trends, but also provides all industry stakeholders with a broader picture of the position of the Croatian market. Despite the economic and geopolitical challenges, digital advertising in Europe has shown extraordinary resilience and growth, which is very encouraging for us as a rising digital community and shows a concrete business direction”she said Rajna Cuculić (GroupM), member of the Board of IAB Croatia and HURA.
Continued growth of investment in digital advertising marked 2023.
Although the American market is 2.5 times larger than the European one, Europe recorded a growth rate of 11.1% on an annual basis in comparison with the growth rate of the American market of 7.3%. Advertising on social networks it grew by 18.2%, surpassing display ad growth of 12.7%. Video advertising also played a key role in display growth, increasing by 20.9% in 2023. The video also recorded a significant increase of 15% outside of social networks.
Croatian investment in digital follows European trends
“It is positive news to see significant growth across European markets. Even some more mature markets such as the UK recorded double-digit growth. However, the picture changes when we apply market inflation, which significantly influenced the growth of investments in digital media, including in Croatia. Also, we expect a slowdown in growth, both in Croatia and in Europe. In Croatia, display growth has been recorded, but it is important to know that this growth is mostly driven by the increase in budgets and advertising prices on social networks (mostly on Meta platforms), as well as by the inflation of advertising prices on YouTube. In both cases, the greatest growth was recorded in video formats”he stated Vjeko Srednoselec (dentsu Croatia), member of the working group for IAB Croatia Online AdEx, and explained:
“Advertising on search engines is also experiencing strong growth, primarily due to the increase in advertising prices. The potential exists in the development of this market according to the so-called Retail media platforms, which opens up additional inventory and a slightly different approach compared to the traditional approach to advertising on search engines. We lag considerably behind the European average in some segments, such as digital audio advertising. However, in Croatia there is primarily the problem of the relatively low reach of digital audio platforms, in addition to very strong classical radio stations.”
Digital audio is one of the fastest growing formats
The study shows that social media advertising is once again making strong progress with a growth rate of 18.2%. Audio formats also continued their impressive rise, recording a 23.1% increase, with podcasts, with a 32.5% increase in digital audio spending, being the key driver of overall digital audio spending growth. Connected TV (CTV) grew by 23.5%, and programmatic advertising still holds 51.9% of total display advertising.
“Focused analyzes show us continuous growth, and the period ahead brings even greater quality, a series of innovations and an even greater significance of the digital community for the economic picture“she said Quince Ivana Ballonexecutive director of IAB Croatia.
“Despite the caution, there is a growing recognition of the need for continuous consumption: brands have sought to renew their presence and maintain market recognition share. In this period there is also the return of new companies and small and medium-sized enterprises entering the market. Businesses have transformed to become largely digital, and advertising has evolved from a hidden function to an integral part of overall marketing strategies, helping to drive the growth we’re witnessing in 2023.”he explained Daniel KnappChief Economist of IAB Europe.
The entire report on the European market is available at the link. A valuable source of data for all actors of the Croatian market will be the complementary document of the IAB’s Online Advertising Expenditure (AdEx), with which the Croatian digital market receives valuable data for the third year in a row based on the research of a professional and independent organization whose focus is the development of digital and interactive of marketing, and gathers all perspectives – from advertisers to agencies and media and other actors on the market.
The results of IAB Europe once again confirm the quality and reliability of the Croatian branch of this leading European digital organization, as they once again successfully set a benchmark for assessing the state of the profession. For the third year in a row, IAB Croatia has published an estimate of investment in online advertising in Croatia for the previous year, and based on the data, continued growth in 2024 of almost 13% is forecast.
A summary of the research on the Croatian market is available on the official website IAB-a Croatia.
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Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Croatia is the collective representative and ambassador of the interactive marketing industry and the large world organization IAB Global Network in Croatia. By operating within the Croatian Association of Marketing Communication Associations (HURA), it connects the most important actors engaged in the growth of interactive marketing and insists on the highest standards, and with this acquisition the Croatian market has become richer for numerous materials, specialized education, awards, research, analysis and network which will be exclusively available through IAB Croatia.
Find more information at www.iab-croatia.com te na Facebook i LinkedIn.
Source: www.advertiser-serbia.com
