IAB Europe Releases Pan-European Study on Addressability and Measurement

IAB Europe has published its first pan-European report examining how advertisers, agencies, publishers, and ad tech providers are adopting addressability and privacy-first measurement solutions in a post-cookie environment.

The study highlights broad awareness but uneven expertise—particularly among advertisers—and pinpoints cross-platform data access, privacy regulations, and signal loss from cookie deprecation as primary hurdles. Adoption is building around privacy-preserving tools such as data clean rooms and interoperable IDs, but a lack of standardization continues to slow consistent implementation.

The findings draw on input from 79 industry stakeholders across 27 European markets, complemented by expert calls for clearer guidance and interoperable approaches. 

Why It May Matter 

• Targeting: Over 50% of organizations are adopting or testing data clean rooms and Unified ID solutions, with 36% uptake in contextual, seller-defined audiences, and customer match—key for privacy-safe reach. 

• Data interoperability: Cross-platform data access challenges (cited by 68%) complicate building coherent audience and measurement strategies across walled gardens and publishers. 

• Compliance: Heightened privacy regulations and cookie deprecation intensify the need for standardized, privacy-first practices to scale addressability responsibly. 

• Measurement: While 70% report high familiarity with privacy-first measurement, attribution without cookies remains a material obstacle, highlighting the need for unified frameworks. 

• Capability gaps: Advertisers show the least expertise versus agencies and ad tech, signaling demand for education, vendor support, and clearer best practices. 

Implications for Pharma Media Teams

For pharma, where compliance risks run higher than in any other vertical, the shift to privacy-first addressability is both a constraint and a catalyst. Data clean rooms and authenticated ID frameworks now sit at the center of compliant HCP and patient activation, offering controlled environments to match and measure audiences without exposing underlying PII.

In the near term, contextual solutions, seller-defined audiences, and customer match pathways provide scalable, privacy-forward alternatives—especially valuable across a patchwork of European regulatory interpretations. Yet measurement remains the friction point: unified attribution is still out of reach, requiring a blended model that leans on incrementality testing, clean room-based analytics, and platform-level cohort reporting until standardization catches up.

With expertise levels highly uneven across the ecosystem, pharma teams will need to prioritize internal upskilling and carefully vet identity, measurement, and clean room partners. The stakes are not simply performance efficiency, but regulatory integrity; missteps in data collaboration or HCP targeting carry reputational and legal consequences far beyond typical consumer categories.

sollis final thoughts

For pharma, the goal isn’t to crown a single post-cookie identity solution but to make each option deliver compliant reach and credible measurement now. With privacy interpretations varying across EU markets, no tool will operate consistently, so advantage lies in connecting insights across platforms rather than chasing a universal ID. Success will come from pragmatic orchestration—privacy-safe activation, hybrid measurement models, and disciplined partner selection that balances performance with regulatory rigor.

To access the full report click here.