Infectious Media's CTO, Daniel de Sybel, looks at why the next wave of programmatic innovation is likely to come from Europe.
Look back to the first emergence of programmatic, the technology which has revolutionised how online ads are traded, and US companies led from the get-go. It’s testament to the incredible innovation and rich tech talent that has long been available across the country.
Europe, because of a perfect mix of three factors is becoming just as pioneering and may even lead the next wave of programmatic disruption. As an international programmatic agency headquartered in the UK, we know this more than most.
At Infectious Media, for example, campaign spend for a typical client over a month in Europe and America is often roughly the same, around $1 million each. But once this gets broken down across the individual countries, the figure changes dramatically, becoming $50,000 and $500,000 respectively.
However, these challenges have also created a breeding ground for a different and more sophisticated approach to digital marketing. It has created a mind-set in Europe where advertisers don’t just assume they know everything that’s going on in each region and, by necessity, develop much more complex and adaptable campaign strategies.
This flows into the second facet starting to give Europe a distinct advantage - technology innovation.