Massive drop in available ad-requests with location data
It's been a few days since the new GDPR guidelines and laws have been applied/activated. Since the activation/implementation (on the 25th of may 2018) - we have witnessed a massive drop in available ad-requests with location data. What is going on?
With many clients we have had conversations and discussions regarding our stance, more importantly; the EU's stance - on utilizing location data in the Programmatic Advertising landscape. Although the EU committee behind the GDPR has not issued a specific section/chapter (in the legal description of the new law/guidelines) regarding the utilization of location data for advertising purposes, many companies are playing it safe - with a drastic decline of available ad-requests which have location data - as an effect.
Our estimates tell us that the decline is a massive 40 to 45%. It's going to be very interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks. For now it's fair to conclude that many publishers, adexchanges and inventory owners are playing it safe.
We have mapped thousands of publishers who - in our view - have a very clear explanation of the gathering and use of the location of their visitors. It is our belief that - when deployed correctly - these transparent and simplistic explanations and methods are aligned with the GDPR. The big question is; and in retrospect to the recently activated GDPR laws - what does the EU think about this targeting technique?