Scaling Programmatic TV in Europe — Why Collaboration Could Be the Missing Piece

Talk about programmatic TV in Europe and one thing quickly becomes clear: there is no single European market. What works in Germany may look very different in France, Italy, Spain, or the UK. Different regulations, technologies, market structures and established ways of working all add to the complexity. And while programmatic TV has scaled considerably further in the US, Europe is still working out how to make it work across a much more fragmented landscape.

So what would it take to close that gap?

At this year’s Product Advisory Board (PAB), Ian Maude, who is helping lead the European Programmatic TV Initiative, explored the challenges standing in the way — and why greater collaboration across the industry could be key to unlocking the next stage of growth.

The fundamentals are encouraging. Advertisers and agencies are looking for more programmatic access to premium video, while European broadcasters continue to produce world-class content across linear TV, addressable TV, BVOD, and streaming. The problem is connecting the demand and supply efficiently.

Legacy systems and workflows continue to create friction, while buyers and sellers have different priorities. Broadcasters want to maintain control over their inventory, yield, and advertiser relationships. Buyers, meanwhile, are looking for greater consistency and transparency.

These challenges were at the heart of the European Programmatic TV Initiative, which was established to explore what is holding the market back and what needs to change.

Following discussions with broadcasters, streamers, agencies, trade bodies, and technology platforms, the initiative identified five key areas to address: integrating programmatic into TV trading, finding the right balance between automation and control, evolving measurement and definitions, establishing appropriate governance, and understanding the role of major technology platforms.

Developing Common Standards and Frameworks

The initiative’s first stage focused on diagnosing the current market and mapping out a way forward. That work identified three areas where greater alignment is needed: measurement and currency, technical and operational standards, and buyer-seller relationships.

The next stage is about turning those findings into practical solutions.

Rather than creating new systems from scratch, the initiative is looking to build on existing foundations and establish greater clarity and consistency across the ecosystem. That includes work on shared definitions and measurement, clearer guidance around the technical signals needed for successful ad bids, and a persistent creative reference ID that can be recognised across different workflows and platforms.

For broadcasters and publishers, these may sound like technical details, but they can have a very practical impact: fewer manual processes, clearer reasons for rejected bids and a smoother path between premium inventory and demand.

For advertisers, greater consistency could make it easier to access and plan against premium video inventory across markets that currently operate quite differently.

Protecting the Value of Premium Inventory

There is another piece to the puzzle: making premium TV inventory more accessible through programmatic without reducing it to just another digital impression.

Broadcasters have raised concerns that putting premium inventory on trading platforms could lead to commoditisation if its context and value are not properly represented.

The initiative is therefore also developing a Premium Programmatic Partner Programme, designed to provide greater confidence around how premium inventory is presented on trading platforms. The proposed approach includes a governance framework, model clauses and market templates.

It is a question that matters beyond the sell side, too. For advertisers, greater access to premium inventory only creates value if they can still understand and differentiate the quality of what they are buying.

Creating Consistency Across Different Markets

None of this means making every European market operate in exactly the same way. That would be unrealistic, given the differences between countries. Instead, the initiative is looking for common principles and greater interoperability while allowing for national differences — a balance that could make it easier for the ecosystem to scale without forcing every market into the same mould. And that brings the conversation back to collaboration.

The initiative brings together players from across the buy and sell sides, with participation from broadcasters, agencies, trade bodies and technology companies. Its work is voluntary and open, reflecting the idea that progress will depend on different parts of the ecosystem solving shared problems together.

As Maude put it towards the end of his presentation, collaboration does not mean everyone has to give away their “secret sauce”. It means agreeing on the foundations that allow the market to work more effectively.

Why the Industry Needs to Act

Maude ended with an appropriately British analogy, comparing the European TV industry to the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail — still insisting he can fight on despite having lost several limbs.

The joke landed, but the point was a serious one. European premium TV remains strong, with the content, audiences and advertiser relationships to compete. But the advertising landscape is changing quickly, and the industry cannot afford to ignore the platforms and technologies reshaping how video is bought and sold.

For broadcasters, publishers and advertisers alike, the opportunity is significant. But unlocking it will require more than individual solutions. If programmatic TV is going to scale across Europe, the industry needs greater consistency in the areas that underpin the market: measurement, technical standards, transparency and trust.

The European Programmatic TV Initiative is working to build those foundations. The next step is turning them into something the wider market can put into practice.