Vodafone, Orange and Deutsche Telekom Unit Launch European Media Marketplace to Rival US Ad Giants

A coalition of ten major European telcos, retailers and ad-tech firms — including Vodafone, Orange Advertising, T Advertising Solutions (Deutsche Telekom), Virgin Media O2, Experian and Equativ — launched the European Media Marketplace on July 7, giving advertisers a single access point to buy CTV, video, display and retail-media inventory across their combined datasets. The marketplace launches first in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, with initial campaigns going live in September, positioning itself explicitly as a sovereign European alternative to US-based ad platforms.

Key takeaway: Ten of Europe's largest telcos, retailers and ad-tech firms pooling their audience data into a single marketplace is a direct structural challenge to the Google/Meta ad duopoly, and a sign that "European digital sovereignty" is moving from policy rhetoric into commercial ad-tech infrastructure.

Source: https://videoweek.com/2026/07/07/european-telcos-retailers-and-ad-tech-companies-form-european-media-marketplace/