Most marketers support federal consumer privacy protections

Kubient conducted a survey of marketing and advertising professionals to provide a snapshot of industry perspectives on increasing privacy regulations, including the postponement and eventual elimination of cookies and how it affects the larger marketing and advertising ecosystem.

Consumer privacy protections: Top 3 insights

With 1,000 marketing and advertising professionals surveyed, the results revealed:

1. Two-thirds of marketers surveyed support federal consumer regulations such as the California Consumer Protection Act and the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. Of these respondents, their primary reasoning for supporting:

• 34% believe it would be simpler for marketers to follow these federal guidelines vs each state creating bespoke guidelines
• 26% believe privacy regulations should be in place to protect consumers
• Nearly 20% believe we should model the GDPR regulation for new US federal privacy standards

2. Nearly 70% believe that consumer knowledge of data collection (using an adblocker, opting out of cookies, etc.) has had an impact on their reach and measurement for recent campaigns.

3. When it comes to sourcing support, 40% of survey respondents plan to hire an expert combat Google’s news on third-party cookies being eliminated, or the Apple iOS 14.5 update for opt-in’s to track.

“Increasing regulations to protect consumer data can be viewed as a Sophie’s choice for marketers,” said Paul Roberts, CEO, Kubient. “On one hand, the industry relies on data and cookies for targeted and efficient advertising, on the other the CCPA and proposed legislations can unify marketers under one set of compliance– and shines a spotlight on tech conglomerates’ anticompetitive grip on their user data.”

Other notable findings

• Over 30% of respondents have already thought of different marketing strategies to reflect the elimination of cookies, while 17% plan to shift their strategies as it happens in 2022
• Surprisingly, 57% of marketers requested a brand make changes to a file they were keeping on them personally
• More than 60% think consumers see the benefit to the proposed privacy regulations, including CCPA and the New York privacy act
• Taking a look at industry organizations, such as the Association of National Advertisers, over 60% of respondents think they are effectively supporting marketers as they have to navigate new privacy legislation
• 88% of survey respondents indicated some level of concern on the increase of privacy regulation requiring a shift in strategies on reconcepting of campaigns with only 23% noting they were “extremely concerned” on the changes required

“As privacy legislation and congressional hearings continue to rise, marketers are increasingly concerned about targeting and reaching the right audience and remaining compliant,” adds Roberts. “With the bulk of respondents supporting federal legislation of consumer privacy protections, marketers are aware that although data is abundant, it’s often taken for granted and shouldn’t be leveraged at the cost of consumer trust.”

The survey was conducted via Pollfish and consisted of one thousand (56% male, 44% female) director level and above marketing and advertising professionals.