Programmatic advertising in Sweden reaches 5 billion kronor in 2025

Programmatic promoting investments in Sweden reached 4.7 billion kronor in 2024, marking a 12 p.c enhance from the earlier 12 months. On-line video surpassed banners to grow to be the most important subcategory inside programmatic buying and selling for the primary time available in the market’s historical past.

The report, launched on October 23, 2024, at IAB Sweden’s Programmatic Day, was commissioned by IAB Sweden and produced by IRM (Institute for Promoting and Media Statistics). The info covers programmatic promoting transactions carried out via ad-tech infrastructure, measured from the promote facet and excluding social networks.

“We see that 2024 was a robust 12 months for programmatic buying and selling and for the primary time on-line video went previous banners as the most important subcategory,” mentioned Madeleine Thor, CEO of IRM. “Programmatic purchases inside on-line video elevated by over 20 p.c throughout 2024.”

On-line video drives development

On-line video investments grew 21.7 p.c in 2024, reaching roughly 2.4 billion kronor via programmatic channels. This marked the primary 12 months that programmatic on-line video income exceeded programmatic banner income. Banners contributed 2.3 billion kronor to the whole, representing a modest 1 p.c enhance.

The shift displays broader video promoting traits. On-line video has demonstrated optimistic development every year within the measurement interval, whereas banners have skilled extra risky efficiency, together with declines in 2020 and 2023 throughout weaker financial circumstances.

For 2025, IRM tasks programmatic spending will attain 5 billion kronor, representing 5 p.c development. By 2026, the market is anticipated to broaden to five.4 billion kronor with 7 p.c development. On-line video will proceed driving this enlargement, with forecasts exhibiting it’ll comprise 52 p.c of whole programmatic spending by 2026.

Rising classes present sturdy momentum

The report consists of programmatic knowledge for digital out-of-home and podcasts for the primary time. Each classes stay small in absolute phrases however display vital development charges from low baselines.

Programmatic DOOH spending reached 46 million kronor in 2024, representing 5 p.c of whole digital out-of-home investments. The class grew 66 p.c year-over-year. IRM forecasts programmatic DOOH will broaden 42 p.c in 2025 to 66 million kronor, adopted by 25 p.c development in 2026 to succeed in 82 million kronor.

Programmatic podcast promoting totaled 25 million kronor in 2024, accounting for six p.c of podcast advert spending. Progress charges are projected at 40 p.c for 2025 and 35 p.c for 2026, bringing programmatic podcast income to 48 million kronor by the top of the forecast interval.

“It is two classes with continued low figures however very massive development,” Thor mentioned. “IRM assesses that investments inside DOOH and podcast have good circumstances to proceed taking an more and more bigger share in coming years. For each classes, development is predicted to be over 40 p.c throughout 2025.”

Market maturation evident in shifting dynamics

Programmatic promoting now accounts for 64 p.c of all banner and on-line video spending in Sweden, excluding social networks. This proportion has stabilized after fast development between 2015 and 2021, when the programmatic share expanded from 15 p.c to 60 p.c.

The mature market standing brings new aggressive dynamics. Conventional insertion order shopping for confirmed stronger development than programmatic in 2024, with programmatic banners rising simply 1 p.c whereas whole banner spending elevated 2 p.c. Native promoting, which falls exterior programmatic measurement, contributed to stronger total banner efficiency.

Programmatic video maintained its structural benefit, rising 23 p.c in 2024 in comparison with 21.7 p.c development for whole on-line video. Nonetheless, competitors from social video, which grew 26.2 p.c in 2024, creates headwinds for programmatic’s market share enlargement.

The byråförmedlad (agency-mediated) share of programmatic transactions has elevated considerably. Survey responses point out 69 p.c of programmatic spending flows via media businesses, in comparison with simply 18 p.c for whole digital promoting.

Technical infrastructure and shopping for strategies

Non-public market offers dominate programmatic banner transactions, accounting for 48 p.c of spending. Open exchanges symbolize 38 p.c, whereas programmatic assured offers comprise 14 p.c. This distribution marks a shift from the earlier report, with personal marketplaces gaining share on the expense of open exchanges.

On-line video reveals totally different patterns. Open exchanges deal with 79 p.c of programmatic video spending, with programmatic assured offers at 12 p.c and personal marketplaces at 9 p.c. The upper open trade share displays video’s much less mature programmatic adoption, although personal marketplaces and assured offers are rising quickly from small bases.

Survey responses from sell-side organizations recognized “maximizing stock worth” because the strongest driver for programmatic adoption, with 89 p.c citing this issue. “Elevated buyer demand” ranked second at 76 p.c, adopted by “extra environment friendly automated promoting” at 67 p.c.

The connection between consumers and sellers emerged as the first impediment to programmatic development, cited by 50 p.c of respondents. “Compressed costs” tied because the second-largest concern. Technical prices, third-party cookie limitations, and recruitment challenges all ranked decrease than in earlier surveys, suggesting these points have grow to be much less urgent.

Model-safe promoting environments obtained the very best precedence score at 4.7 on a 0-5 scale. Transparency scored 3.9, IAB certification 3.3, and environmental affect 1.6. Solely 10 p.c of respondents reported taking motion to cut back the environmental affect of programmatic promoting.

Digital promoting context

Programmatic buying and selling operates inside Sweden’s broader digital promoting market, which totaled 38.1 billion kronor in 2024, representing 75 p.c of all promoting spending. Digital promoting grew 8.6 p.c in 2024, recovering from the three.3 p.c development fee recorded in 2023 throughout financial uncertainty.

The digital promoting market is projected to succeed in 40.1 billion kronor in 2025 with 5.3 p.c development, adopted by 42.2 billion kronor in 2026 with 5.1 p.c development. This trajectory suggests the fast migration to digital channels has matured, with future development extra carefully monitoring total promoting market efficiency.

“Programmatic buying and selling continues to develop and extra new channels are breaking new floor,” mentioned Kenneth Danielsson, CEO of IAB Sweden. “It’s now fully clear that we’ve got a mature marketplace for programmatic buying and selling.”

The report attracts on knowledge assortment, in-depth interviews, analysis and evaluation of traits in Sweden and internationally. IRM conducts ongoing surveys of promoting funding in Scandinavia and forecasts future growth. The institute measures programmatic promoting from the vendor’s perspective, in step with worldwide methodology.

Timeline

Abstract

Who: IRM (Institute for Promoting and Media Statistics) commissioned by IAB Sweden carried out the analysis. Swedish media corporations, advertisers, and businesses take part within the programmatic promoting market measured within the examine.

What: Programmatic promoting in Sweden reached 4.7 billion kronor in 2024, rising 12 p.c year-over-year. On-line video turned the most important programmatic class, surpassing banners for the primary time. The examine included digital out-of-home and podcast programmatic spending knowledge for the primary time. Projections present the market will exceed 5 billion kronor in 2025.

When: The report was offered October 23, 2024, at IAB Sweden’s Programmatic Day. It covers calendar 12 months 2024 efficiency and offers forecasts via 2026.

The place: The analysis focuses completely on the Swedish market, measuring programmatic promoting transactions from the sell-side perspective. Social networks are excluded from the methodology to align with worldwide measurement requirements.

Why: The analysis tracks programmatic promoting’s evolution in Sweden because the market matures. It offers advertisers, businesses, and media corporations with knowledge on spending patterns, development charges, shopping for strategies, and market drivers to tell strategic selections. The inclusion of rising classes like DOOH and podcasts displays programmatic enlargement into new channels past conventional show and video codecs.