It’s officially General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) month. GDPR will be going into effect on May 25. Both in the European Union and beyond, you can already see the changes appearing. Why? Better to ensure a company is compliant now than when it is too late. The violations are too steep for those who don’t follow the guidelines. The companies found violating GDPR will face a fine of €20 million ($22.1 million) or 4% of global revenues, whichever is greater! They mean business and it is better to iron out the details before the program officially rolls out. The biggest question in the advertising world is will these regulations completely turn digital advertising on its axis? Likely no, but it will definitely be a changed industry.
Let’s start with the obvious: the players in the game. Some companies are completely withdrawing advertising efforts from the European Union altogether! Rather than making the necessary adjustments to meet the needs of a changing industry, they are shutting down business deals and, instead, opting to limit their client pool. While, of course, that doesn’t mean it is a permanent change, it is demonstrating the power that these new regulations have on the industry. On the other hand, it is creating a buzz in the community, cluing companies in on which firms aren’t actively being compliant and which firms are modifying their processes to meet the changes necessary. This industry is smaller than most would think. A firm that is seen as skating around compliance and not actively pursuing the new guidelines will receive fewer contracts moving forward as clients will want to pair with an organization that will ensure their financial and legal safety with the new regulations. And, some advertising platforms are already setting efforts into motion to calm clients’ angst. For example, Facebook is already asking users to agree to new data policies that will meet the regulations’ stipulations.
This isn’t just for those users in the European Union, these regulations are affecting users globally. GDPR is creating a domino effect that is creating change across the entirety of the advertising world. This one set of regulations is going to dramatically clean-up the industry. According to a recent survey, 50% of companies spent at least $1 million to meet GDPR requirements. For some companies, this may not be in the cards, though marketing efforts are at stake. This also involves keeping in mind that the regulations still have some grey area that companies are trying to decipher. Back in November 2017, a survey of North American IT professionals found that only 6% were completely prepared for GDPR. Lots of time has passed, giving more companies the ability to adjust and meet the requirements, but it demonstrates the level of change necessary to meet the regulations. If meeting the regulations is an option for your company, it is in their best interest, rather than limiting potential client reach. The next frontier with these regulations is will these regulations expand outside of the European Union to other countries’ legalities, or will it merely give a wake-up call to how the advertising industry operates? The answer to this question is unknown, but we will definitely do our best to stay up to date and keep our clients in the know. Their success is a top priority.
About Hivewyre:
Hivewyre is a forward-thinking programmatic advertising company. Their private data cooperative allows advertisers to share first-party audience data and build targeted campaigns for prospecting new customers based on their competitors’ unconverted shoppers. Hivewyre advertisers have access to fresh, exclusive data that will never be sold to a third party. With over 500 retailers and over 100 million monthly in-market shoppers in our co-op, our distinct advertising strategy allows you to combat rising search engine PPC & PLA costs and the ever-expanding online marketplace growth. In addition to access to the exclusive data, co-op members benefit from full-service account management and detailed reporting of the return from advertising spend. To learn more about Hivewyre, visit www.hivewyre.com.
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