Europe’s ad market is in flux. Most ad spending in the region is still directed toward traditional media, but advertisers are quickly shifting their budgets to digital. That’s no surprise, given that 70.7% of the region’s population will use the internet at least once per month in 2018.

Trust and transparency were the two topics that dominated the European ad industry at the end of last year.

"Both issues will continue to play a role in 2018, particularly as new regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) put more power in the hands of individuals to control what they see and share online. These topics have also informed our most recent predictions of how advertisers in Europe will spend their ad dollars this year," said Jasmine Enberg, author of eMarketer's latest report, "Ad Spending in Europe 2018: Trust and Transparency Take Center Stage."

We forecast that total media ad spending in Europe will rise by 3.6% to $122.77 billion in 2018. The FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, hosted in Russia, is largely responsible for the additional boost.

In the latest episode of eMarketer's "Behind the Numbers" podcast, Enberg highlights the trends that are driving ad spending in Europe's multiple markets, touching on the impact of GDPR regulations, the bubbling controversy over fake news and data security, and this summer's World Cup.