Summer Insight Series: Why I’m More Optimistic About European Advertising Than I Was Six Months Ago
AUDIENCES' Summer Insight Series
Why I’m More Optimistic About European Advertising Than I Was Six Months Ago
By Matt Wilkinson, Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer, AUDIENCES
As Chief Commercial Officer, much of my time is spent speaking with businesses about what is actually happening in the market. Those conversations take place with customers, prospective customers, retailers, brands, publishers, agencies, cloud providers and technology partners. They are often less polished than the discussions taking place on conference stages, but they tend to be considerably more revealing.
Over the past few months, those conversations have taken me from the UK to Cannes and, more recently, to Poland, where I have been meeting businesses and exploring the opportunities being created by the country’s growing digital economy. Although the organisations and markets have been different, the conversations have become strikingly consistent.
Businesses want greater control over their technology and data. They are looking for more practical innovation, rather than transformation for its own sake. And they are increasingly judging advertising investment by the business outcomes it creates, not simply the audiences it reaches. At a time of continued economic uncertainty, this alignment has left me more optimistic about the direction of European advertising than I was six months ago.
The latest market data provides good reason for that optimism. IAB Europe’s recently released 2025 AdEx Benchmark found that European digital advertising investment increased by 10.5% to reach €131 billion, despite sluggish economic growth, geopolitical pressure and considerable variation in the maturity of individual markets. The sector added approximately €12.5 billion in a single year.
The UK continues to sit at the forefront of that growth. Digital advertising investment reached £40.5 billion in 2025, increasing by 10% and significantly outpacing UK GDP growth of 1.4%. IAB UK expects the market to reach £44.7 billion in 2026 and £49.1 billion by 2027. Those numbers demonstrate resilience. More importantly, the areas attracting investment tell us something about how the market is changing.
Advertising is becoming commercial infrastructure
One of the most interesting conclusions in the latest AdEx report is that digital advertising can no longer be considered solely a communications expense. It is increasingly becoming part of the commercial infrastructure through which businesses reach customers, create demand, facilitate transactions and measure growth.
That is reflected in the formats growing most quickly. Across Europe, video investment rose by 19.6% to reach €34 billion and now represents more than half of all display advertising for the first time. Social advertising increased by 19.2% to €35.5 billion, while retail media grew by 16.7% to €13.3 billion and passed 10% of total European digital advertising investment.
The UK presents a similar picture. Video investment increased by 20% to £9.3 billion, social grew by 21% to £11.5 billion and retail media rose by 18% to £3.8 billion. Search remains the largest part of the market, but its 6% growth was considerably slower than the formats connecting media more directly with content, commerce and customer behaviour.
This is more than a shift between advertising channels. It reflects a more fundamental change in what businesses expect advertising to do. The dividing lines between brand, performance, commerce and customer experience are becoming harder to maintain. Advertisers increasingly want media investment to contribute across the customer journey, while producing evidence of its commercial impact.
That requires a different starting point. For years, marketing strategies have often been organised around channels. There has been a search strategy, a social strategy, a CRM strategy, a connected television strategy and, more recently, a retail media strategy.
The discussions I am now hearing begin somewhere else: with the customer. Businesses are asking how they can understand their customers more clearly, make their existing data useful across more of the organisation and create more relevant experiences wherever those customers choose to engage. The channel still matters. But it is becoming the destination for a decision rather than the starting point for it.
Independence is moving from aspiration to expectation
Another of the clearest themes from this summer has been the degree of industry alignment around independence, neutrality and interoperability.
At Cannes, these principles were visible throughout the messaging of many of the cloud providers and technology businesses with which we are proud to partner. In meetings, presentations and conversations, the emphasis was increasingly on openness, customer choice and technology that can work across an existing ecosystem. That matters because it represents a meaningful change in expectations.
Historically, enterprise technology providers often attempted to own as much of the customer relationship and technology stack as possible. Businesses were encouraged to consolidate around a platform, move data into a new environment or accept a degree of dependency in return for convenience.
There will always be a role for large platforms. But customers are becoming more conscious of the consequences of concentrating too much capability or control in one place. They want to retain ownership of their customer relationships. They want the freedom to work across clouds and technology partners. They want systems to complement the investments they have already made rather than requiring another costly programme of replacement and migration. Independence, therefore, is no longer only a philosophical position. It is becoming a commercial requirement.
Mature markets can learn from growth markets
My recent time spent in Poland reinforced many of these observations. What I encountered was a market with considerable ambition and an appetite for innovation, but also a clear focus on practical value. It would be easy for businesses in established markets to assume that experience flows in one direction - that faster-growing markets learn from the UK and other mature digital economies. The reality is more interesting.
The UK has accumulated deep experience in areas including data regulation, retail media, cloud adoption, performance marketing and enterprise technology. It has also accumulated complexity. Years of adding platforms, integrations, agencies and data processes have left many organisations with sophisticated but fragmented technology environments. Innovation can involve untangling what already exists before anything new can begin.
Growing markets have an opportunity to avoid reproducing some of that complexity. They can adopt interoperable models earlier, build around cloud infrastructure from the outset and focus technology investment on clear business use cases. They can learn from the UK’s successes without having to repeat all of its expensive mistakes.
At the same time, the consistency of the conversations in Poland and the UK demonstrated that these are no longer purely national challenges. Businesses across Europe are asking how they can create more value from customer data, connect their technology investments and compete in an increasingly AI-enabled economy without losing control of their most important assets. The pace and maturity may vary, but the direction is becoming shared.
A more connected market
Europe’s advertising industry remains diverse. The media landscape, economic outlook, regulatory environment and level of digital maturity vary considerably between markets. Yet after a summer spent speaking with businesses across the UK and Europe, notably Poland, I believe the industry is becoming more aligned around several fundamental ideas. Customers should have greater control over their data and technology.
Systems should work together rather than create additional dependency. Innovation should build on existing investments and solve commercially meaningful problems. Advertising should be accountable to business outcomes. And the customer, not the channel, platform or technology provider, should be the organising principle behind every decision.
Market growth alone does not guarantee that future. It does, however, create the investment and confidence required to build it.
What gives me the greatest optimism is that these ideas are no longer being championed by a small part of the industry. They are increasingly reflected in the priorities of customers, partners, cloud providers and technology businesses across Europe.
