This week, we look at how programmatic video ad growth is rapidly accelerating in Europe, mobile advertising in Austria outpaces the rest of the world, and Easter drives engagement on Facebook.

European digital video advertising is being transformed right now, as it grows shifts from a manual process to another programmatic advertising channel. The explosive growth in spend on video ads is almost entirely driven by this programmatic spend. In 2012, there was only €22 million in programmatic video ad spend in Europe, but by 2020 IHS predicts that it will reach €1,967 million, an increase of 88x, or a compound annual growth rate of 39%! At that time, more than half of all video ads in Europe will be generated programmatically. Much of this growth will be driven by ads on Facebook and Instagram because all video ads on these platforms are programmatic, and advertisers are seeing strong success with video ads there; according to Salesforce’s new Advertising Index report, almost half of all Instagram video ads in the United Kingdom are watched in full.

Australian marketers spend the most on digital advertising per internet user of any country in the world, at USD $271 per user, ahead of the United Kingdom ($262) and the United States ($225), both of which are also in the top five. At the same time, Australia advertisers are leaders in mobile advertising, and mobile ad spend growth is outpacing the rest of the world.  According to the new Salesforce Advertising Index, Australian CPM on Facebook increased year over year from AUD$5.04 to AUD$6.97 as Facebook remains a great way to reach highly targeted groups of consumers on Facebook.

Easter was this weekend, and that means a surge in activity on Facebook. Last year according to Facebook, two-thirds of all posts about Easter on Facebook took place on mobile, led by the United States at 76% and Australia at 72%. If you have any big holiday promotions, for the rest of the year, consider promoting them with a holiday-themed advertising campaign on mobile.

For more information about the most important trends across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, download the Salesforce Advertising Index 2015 Annual Report.