Study shows the Finnish market continues to have faith in programmatic buying

Looking at the figures, the state of programmatic buying in Finland seems challenging, but a qualitative look into the causes and the overall situation bodes well for the future.

“The responses to the survey reflect a will to drive the Finnish programmatic market and expertise forward. Even though the means to it are still taking shape, I’m pleased to see a positive message from the field," says Sanoma's Senior Programmatic Manager Miia Salmi.

IAB’s study, The Current State and Trends of Programmatic Buying in Finland, was conducted for the fourth time in autumn 2025. The study compiles the views of publishers, media agencies, advertisers and technology providers on the state and prospects of the industry.

The future of digital marketing is real-time

The benefits of programmatic buying are clear to the respondents. They appreciate the swiftness and scalability of the method, the versatile opportunities to use data as well as the control and real-time campaign optimisation that traditional media buying lacks.

Even though direct buying has not lost its appeal in the Finnish market, there is no shortage of programmatic advertising solutions. Globally, the lion's share of advertising on digital media channels – up to 80% in the United States – is already bought in real time.

"Programmatic has proven to be the best method of buying digital media, and many agree that in the future, all digital channels will be sold in real time. It’s only a question of when,” says Partnership Manager Ville Ahola from Adnami.

The phasing out of third-party cookies was a hot topic in last year’s study, but in the past 12 months, first-party data has turned out to be more than enough for high-accuracy targeting. "The volume of data is still a strength of programmatic buying," Salmi summarises.

Next up: AI, high-impact formats and attention metrics 

Although AI is not a novelty in programmatic buying, the surge of generative AI has inspired those who work with programmatic to experiment with new tools. In reporting and analysis, AI solutions can interpret data or flag problems. In media planning, LLMs are strategic aids that offer new perspectives. The first AI agents are already optimising programmatic campaigns.

As intriguing new opportunities in digital marketing, the respondents highlighted impressive high-impact formats as well as attention metrics that help analyse the success of campaigns on a deeper level.

“The technology of measuring advertising is constantly evolving, and none of the several ways to measure attention has yet emerged as a clear winner. It’s a development project that improves our understanding of media impressions,” says Ahola.

"Attention metrics are clearly a rising trend, but for the time being, the different options are not entirely comparable," Salmi adds.

Technological advancements are also reflected in the range of channels available: programmatic buying can extend to, for example, CTV and DOOH as well as gaming and retail advertising. However, the study indicates that systems do not yet work seamlessly with all the channels. Supply and systems should go hand in hand to make both profitable to develop.

Ahola believes in technology as a driving force.

"The development of programmatic buying is about technology, and it will push the Finnish market forward, too.”

New skills are needed – who will take responsibility of training? 

The market situation of programmatic buying is partly due to the size of the Finnish market and strong traditions of direct buying. In a small country with a handful of prominent publishers, direct relationships have often brought advertisers the visibility they need.

"In the short term, direct deals have allowed advertisers and publishers to maintain their market shares, but at the same time, they have kept the programmatic market from growing. Programmatic is also the one method that would enable international advertising to grow in Finland," says Ahola.

Another factor that hinders growth is the complexity of programmatic buying compared to, for example, social media. Increasing its approachability could bring it within the reach of smaller advertisers, too.

The need for new skills emerges year after year in IAB’s study. According to Salmi and Ahola, the big question is who would take charge of providing the much-needed training. Social media giants have created their own training programs, but there are currently no big players in programmatic buying who would bear the responsibility for growing the expertise of the entire market.

"It’s more about a lack of institutions than programmatic being an exceedingly difficult topic. Right now, training is dependent on the processes of individual companies while the need is in the entire programmatic ecosystem. The ideas are there, though, and the will and resources are often found when the value of a topic is recognised," Ahola ponders. 

Download the report “The Current State and Trends of Programmatic Advertising in Finland”

Sanoma’s entire digital network is available for programmatic buying. When you buy advertising from Sanoma, you can be confident that your ads will appear in a safe, high-quality, and trustworthy media environment.

Learn more about Sanoma’s programmatic buying services