Online advertising is used by more than three fifths of businesses (60.4%) in Malta, and by around half of firms in Finland (49.8%) and Cyprus (49.4%), new data from Eurostat has found.
However, fewer than a quarter of businesses use online advertising in Romania (22.8%), Poland (23.2%) and Portugal (23.6%), the data showed.
Looking at the EU as a whole, some 32.6% of businesses used online advertising in 2024, however data was unavailable for several markets, including Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria and Sweden.
Types of advertising used
Contextual advertising was the most common method used by EU-based businesses, with more than three quarters (76.8%) of companies using information from user content views or keywords in search queries to display targeted ads.
Geo-targeting was used by 44.3% of businesses, using geographic information such as IP addresses to deliver advertising based on location.
Behavioural targeting, employed by 41.6% of companies used data from previous online activities, collected through cookies, to align advertisements with user interests and habits.
Elsewhere, some 45.3% of firms reported using other targeted advertising methods, including ‘retargeting’ visitors who have visited particular websites, sponsoring articles or videos, or working with influencers to reach specific demographics. Read more here.
Use of Online Advertising by EU Member State – 2024 (%)
| Rank | Country | Online Advertising (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malta | 60.41 |
| 2 | Finland | 49.76 |
| 3 | Cyprus | 49.44 |
| 4 | Greece | 43.85 |
| 5 | Lithuania | 42.21 |
| 6 | Ireland | 42.10 |
| 7 | Netherlands | 41.50 |
| 8 | Germany | 38.50 |
| 9 | Slovakia | 34.34 |
| 10 | Latvia | 33.89 |
| 11 | Czechia | 29.29 |
| 12 | Spain | 28.02 |
| 13 | Hungary | 27.79 |
| 14 | France | 27.75 |
| 15 | Slovenia | 26.56 |
| 16 | Bulgaria | 25.63 |
| 17 | Portugal | 23.57 |
| 18 | Poland | 23.23 |
| 19 | Romania | 22.84 |
