MAM
Europe’s online ad market grows at 14.5% to reach €20.9 bn
MUMBAI: Amid a turbulent economic debt crisis, Europe’s online advertising market recorded 14.5 per cent year-on-year to top growth to a market value of €20.9 billion in 2011, according to the AdEx Benchmark.
In contrast, the overall European ad market (sans online ads) grew at 0.8 per cent for the same time period. The report was recently.
According to the study, released at IAB Europe’s Interact conference in Barcelona, one in five advertising Euros in Europe is spent on online advertising.
Russia leads the pack with a growth of 55.5 per cent, followed by Serbia at 46 per cent. Norway and Romania formed the bottom rungs at 5.5 per cent and 4.6 per cent respectively.
Russia becomes the sixth biggest market with a value of € 1.12 billion. Together the top five markets (UK, Germany, France, Italy and Netherlands) account for almost 67.9 per cent of the total online advertising market, showing a marginal reduction from 69.2 per cent in 2010.
The market share of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) markets grew from 10.1 per cent in 2010 to 11.8 per cent last year.
Head of Advertising Research at IHS Screen Digest and author of the research Daniel Knapp explained, “Advertising markets are in general very susceptible to changes in the macroeconomic environment – in other words, in an economy where we have the European sovereign debt crisis, high unemployment and cutbacks in consumer spending, we would expect advertising spend to suffer disproportionately as it did on most media in 2011. However, online enjoys a number of unique attributes that have protected it from this effect.”
According to Knapp, this phenomenon can be attributed to the fact that advertisers are beginning to recognise online as a branding medium. Also, video commands a significant and growing share of spend and search continues to deliver sound and measurable results. The explosion of ‘big data’ has delivered enhanced targeting capabilities, improving monetisation of publishers’ inventory.
Thirdly, there is a long term trend for advertisers to shift ad budgets from mature to emerging markets, which is fueling their online economy. An expanding broadband infrastructure adds to the attractiveness of those markets.
The ROI-centric search format enjoyed the highest growth rate of 17.9 per cent in 2011 followed by display ad spends which were helped by newer formats including video and mobile at 15.3 per cent.
Also, according to the study, video now accounts for 8.2 per cent of online display. The confidence in the medium is increasing, thanks to its ability to convey brand messages in a narrative makes. The medium is most popular in Sweden at 9.8 per cent but it is also gaining traction in CEE markets as 5.8 per cent. In Germany and the UK, video market is worth € 126 million and € 117 million.
Mobile advertising registered an average growth rate of 45.6 per cent contributing one to three per cent of online display ad spend. On the other hand, paid-search continued to grow in double-digit at 17.9 per cent in 2011, retaining its position as the biggest format in online advertising.
The CEE region that really drove the growth of search, with Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Slovenia all experiencing significant increases in spends. The surge in figures is attributed to the innovation in search – from video to location-based services, data-driven planning to cross-media campaigns with TV in particular.
Another reason for the success of display advertising is the evolution of big data which relies on the rich metrics received through the online medium to plan display advertising. Using ad exchanges, real-time bidding and algorithmic trading, advertisers can reach both broad and niche audiences that meet their exacting criteria. These data-driven techniques increase the cost-efficiency of online advertising, maximising cheaper, remnant inventory to reach consumers.
MAM
Madison World to launch AI platform M BrAIn for media planning
Agency group invests about $1 million as it shifts to AI driven growth planning.
MUMBAI: If media planning once ran on spreadsheets and gut instinct, the next chapter may run on algorithms and curiosity. Madison World is preparing to roll out the first version of its proprietary artificial intelligence platform Madison M BrAIn in early April, as the independent agency group accelerates its transition toward AI driven planning and product led media services.
The platform, expected to involve an investment of around $1 million, is designed to reshape how the agency approaches strategy by combining internal knowledge, external data sources and advanced AI models into a single intelligence ecosystem.
According to Madison Media, OOH and Hiveminds partner and group CEO Ajit Varghese the initiative forms part of a larger structural rethink within the organisation. “Traditionally agencies built frameworks around media planning and allocation. We are redesigning that structure into what we call a Growth Planning System (GPS),” Varghese said.
The shift reflects a growing belief that effective media strategy must begin earlier in the decision making process. Instead of jumping directly to channel allocation, planners must first decode the market itself identifying consumer barriers, purchase triggers and the core challenges facing a brand.
Once those insights are mapped, agencies can build clearer growth agendas for clients and design media strategies that connect more closely with business outcomes.
To support that approach, Madison has built Madison M BrAIn as what it describes as a human AI cognitive ecosystem. Acting as a central intelligence hub, the platform aggregates proprietary insights alongside external data sources and large language models, enabling planners to access deeper market intelligence before building campaign strategies.
Varghese said one of the core objectives is to democratise knowledge across the organisation. “In the past, this level of understanding was largely available to senior leaders or experienced strategists. With Madison M BrAIn, even a junior planner should be able to access the same intelligence and approach clients with a far more informed perspective,” he said.
The agency has already implemented the new planning philosophy internally and completed three months of testing for the AI platform, with early trials showing encouraging results in terms of learning capability and system performance.
While the first version relied on global large language models, Madison is now developing its own proprietary Small Language Model (SLM) to serve as the core of the M BrAIn ecosystem.
“The SLM will be able to read global LLMs, but the LLMs cannot read the SLM,” Varghese explained. “That ensures all the intelligence we build remains within the Madison ecosystem and strengthens our proprietary knowledge base.”
The first version of Madison M BrAIn is expected to go live in early April, with a more refined version targeted by the end of June. Over time, the platform will integrate additional external data streams and APIs including consumer insight platforms, social listening tools and client datasets.
These integrations are expected to enhance the system’s learning capability and enable it to generate increasingly sophisticated strategic recommendations.
Although the platform is currently being deployed for internal use, Madison sees potential for it to evolve into a licensable product in the future.
“At the moment, our focus is to stabilise and strengthen M BrAIn internally. But over time there is potential for this to become a product that could be licensed externally,” Varghese said.
The AI platform is also part of a wider technology transformation underway at the agency group. Alongside M BrAIn, Madison is building a broader digital infrastructure called the Catalyst operating system, which aims to integrate operational processes, data and product platforms into a unified ecosystem.
This broader technology stack could require an additional $1 million to $1.5 million investment over time, though spending will be phased and reviewed regularly.
“We are evaluating progress every three months and prioritising the most critical capabilities first,” Varghese said.
Madison expects the full AI and operating ecosystem to be fully functional within 12 to 18 months, positioning the agency to combine human strategy with machine intelligence as the advertising industry enters its next data driven phase.
