European video advertising spend will grow by more than 30% year over year in 2015 and will rise at a 26.4% CAGR over the next five years to represent half of all EU online display advertising spend by 2020. But what’s the current state of the video ad market in Europe?

To find out, Forrester assessed 50 high-traffic publisher sites in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy and data from a survey of 16,000 EU consumers and compared the findings to its historical studies of the same nature. The research found:

  • While in-stream video ads are the most widespread means of monetizing online video content in Europe, they are also the most unpopular ad format: 53% of EU consumers actively avoid ads before or during online videos. The avoidance rate spikes to 63% among French consumers.
  • Mobile video viewing adoption in Europe is growing much more slowly than anticipated. Today, just 14% of EU consumers regularly watch video on a mobile phone, compared with 32% on a PC and 28% on a tablet. Mobile video consumption is lowest in the UK at 8% and France at 9%.
  • Targeting is still primarily based on content — not people. In the more mature video ad markets of the UK and France, where programmatic buying is more widely adopted, targeting is better aligned to sociodemographic profiles, search, and online behaviors. The result is flagrant: Marketers buying inventory through the likes of AppNexus, DoubleClick, and TubeMogul were consistently more successful at delivering relevant ads. They were still, however, the exception, rather than the rule.

Learn more about the research here.