This presentation will go over market research for newly signed on country offices (Italy, France, Germany) and proactive research for future offices (Canada). Each report includes audience information, Ad/Ad tech landscapes by country, and industry standards.

Italy, France and Germany Overview

Anyone involved in EU digital marketing and advertising will face great opportunity along with big challenges in the upcoming years. With growth in digital media, advertising platforms, and cross-platform users, comes the restrictions of newly implemented laws and regulations.

Newly implemented EU rules restrict data gathering and handling. The EU’s GDPR came into force in May 2018, which empowers digital consumers in the EU to understand and manage the ways their personal data is handled. This is predicted to cause shockwaves to digital advertising and marketing, at least in the short term.

Although GDPR may introduce new restrictive standards, the EU still predicts many advances and opportunities for growth. Across Italy, France, and Germany 2018 research foresees mass adoption & development in social media, voice search technology, media ad spending, digital ad spending, etc.

Italy

With interests in social media and live video streams, Italy’s media engagement is on the rise. Here are some stats in regards to Italy’s media interactions, consumer habits, and digital & ad spending cross-platform.

Quick Stats

  • EMarketer estimates total media ad spending in Italy will rise from $9.75 billion in 2017 to $10.39 billion in 2021.
  • Digital ad spending in Italy will is currently $2.03 million and by 2021, that figure will reach $2.52 billion, equating 24.3% of the country’s total ad market.
  • Display was the largest digital ad format in 2017, accounting for 55.3% of the amount spent on digital ads. Most further growth in display will come from video, owing largely to the launch of new over-the-top (OTT) video service providers and a decline in traditional TV viewership.
  • With 54.6% of the population expected to use a smartphone at least once per month in 2017, eMarketer estimates, Italy is at the tail end of smartphone adoption in Western Europe. Due to this slow adoption, advertisers in Italy have been relatively slow to shift their ad budgets to mobile. eMarketer expects 43.0% of digital ad spending in 2017 will go to mobile devices, equating to $872.0 million. At 35.0%, Italy’s mobile ad spending growth rate will be one of the strongest in Western Europe this year.

Italy’s Industry Standard

In Western Europe, countries abide by the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA), that promotes responsible advertising and streamlines regulations and standards. Each county follows their own particular sub-index of rules under the EASA, and for Italy this is known as Istituto dell’Autodisciplina Pubblicitaria - or Institute for Advertising Self-Regulation. This basically makes sure that ads are legal, decent, honest, truthful, prepared with a sense of social responsibility and created with due respect to the rules of fair competition.

France

From digital to mobile, France’s media engagement and overall spending hints at a bright future for both marketers and consumers. France’s healthy economic performance will contribute to growth in the country’s ad market, along with the growth total media ad spending. Here are some stats in regards to consumer behaviors in France.

Quick Stats

  • The growth rate of France’s total media ad spending will reach 0.8% this year, due largely to a boost from the World Cup (compared to 0.6% last year).
  • TV dominates the advertising landscape in France, and accounts for 31.2% of France’s total ad market. This is predicted to change by 2021 as digital spending will become the country’s largest media category (32% of total media ad spending or $3.78 billion).
  • In all, advertisers in France will dedicate 40.1% of their digital ad budgets to mobile this year, resulting in a market worth $1.24 billion.
  • France is one of Western Europe’s larger programmatic markets, in terms of the share of digital display ad spending traded automatically. Programmatic outlays rose 23.0% in 2017, and will record a further double-digit gain this year.
  • Internet users ages 15 to 29 made up 33% of the audience for streamed audio and video content in January 2017.

France’s Industry Standard

As said before, France abides by EASA that promotes responsible advertising and streamlines regulations and standards. France follows the sub-index of Professionnelle de la Publicité or Authority for Self-Regulation of Advertising. This not only sets standards, but also provides a space for the advertising ecosystem to work together to address common challenges and make sure advertising standards are future proof.

Germany

With weather ranking #1 in internet content accessed in Germany, this demographic is engaged, growing, and embracing the digital sphere. Digital ad sales are at the highest it’s ever been, and digital video viewers will reach almost two-thirds of the potential audience this year.

Quick Stats

  • Weather is #1 in internet content that Germany users access.
  • Digital the largest media category in Germany and will account for 29.8% of overall ad spending in the country this year. By 2021, advertisers in Germany will spend $6.98 billion on digital ads, up from $6.12 billion this year.
  • Despite the widespread use of mobile devices, advertisers in Germany have been slower to embrace mobile advertising than those in other markets in Western Europe. In 2017, advertisers in the country dedicated 47.3% of their digital ad budgets to mobile, compared with 61.3% in the UK and 61.4% in Ireland, for example.
  • Because Germany’s population skews older than the norm in Western Europe, the vital role of younger people in driving digital entertainment consumption is especially clear.
  • Fewer than 60% of digital video viewers in France and Germany will access that content on a smartphone or tablet in 2018.
  • It’s predicted that 64.4% of internet users of all ages in Germany will be digital video viewers in 2018—the lowest national penetration rate in Western Europe, but nearly two-thirds of the potential audience.

Germany’s Industry Standard

Germany follows the EASA, as mentioned before. Germany follows the German self-regulatory system that has two advertising standards organizations. Deutscher Werberat deals with issues of taste, decency, and social responsibility, whereas the Wettbewerbszentrale handles issues of unfair commercial practices by applying unfair competition law.

Canada

Over the past five years, adults in Canada have increased their time spent with media by more than 1 hour a day. This fast-growing and advancing industry hints at an opportunity to monetize a growing mobile and digital audience.

  • In 2018, eMarketer estimates, the number of social network users in Canada will reach 21.8 million, equal to 59.0% of the population.
  • Live video has gained traction for event-based marketing, and influencer marketing has become an essential tool for amplifying content marketing. At the same time, sponsored posts aren’t going anywhere—they remain a simple and heavily used promotional tactic.
  • Mobile video has emerged as the fastest-growing display ad format. For many brands, these native mobile video ads are replacing mass media buys on TV and YouTube.
  • Over the past five years, adults in Canada have increased their time spent with media by more than 1 hour a day. This year, they will spend an average of 9 hours, 51 minutes consuming all forms of media—including TV, digital, print and radio—each day, compared with 8 hours, 50 minutes in 2012, eMarketer estimates.
  • This growth is largely attributable to the rise of mobile devices, as consumers continue to discover new forms of media (primarily in the social realm) and enjoy increased access to this media while on the go
  • According to 2017 calculations, the Canadian advertising market ranked tenth on the global scale, with ad expenditures estimated to reach 9.14 billion U.S. dollars that year. In comparison, advertising spending in the United States in the same period was believed to amount to 190.84 billion.

Canada’s Industry Standard

The Canadian Code of Advertising Standards (Code), was founded in 1963 to promote the professional practice of advertising. The Code sets the criteria for acceptable advertising and forms the basis upon which advertising is evaluated in response to consumer, trade, or special interest group complaints. The Code is widely endorsed by advertisers, advertising agencies, media that exhibit advertising, and suppliers to the advertising process.