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,...