GDPR – An Overview:
Every few years, the ad tech landscape experiences a level of disruption from technological innovation or policy changes.
Editor’s Note: The general data protection regulation (GDPR) has been years in the making and will transform the relationship between publishers and advertisers within the ad tech space. It’s coming into force on May 25th, 2018: is your company compliant?
The GDPR is a data protection directive which aims to end the use of unrestricted cookies (or any device identifiers for that matter) while allowing programmatic advertisers to maintain their standards and performance across the digital advertising landscape.
Failure to comply with GDPR will result in fines up to 4% of annual global turnover.
Essentially, the GDPR ensures that programmatic advertisers are transparent and honest with their creative and ad placement to better align audiences, advertisers, and publishers.
Why Now?
Considering the recent changes to Facebook’s content ranking system to promote more relevant material for viewers, as well as native advertising’s continuous rise in 2018, you could say trust is the new normal.
IAB Europe is reinforcing this trend by enforcing a high level of data protection through the GDPR: the goal is promoting transparency and honesty within programmatic.
Traditionally, audience data for programmatic is derived through device tracking (cookie tracking and other methods), coming either from publishers, data brokers, or advertisers.
As of May, publishers will be unable to use third-party data from data brokers, advertisers or clients, to help promote transparency within the programmatic field.
Additionally, GDPR suppresses the overexposure of inventory pricing information (ie. cost per impression, buyer budgets, etc.) by a third party. All the targeting information shared from here-on-out is consensual and considered first-party data; gone are the days of the “spray and pray” approach of ad placement.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Are you and your company GDPR compliant?
To ensure your GDPR compliance, you must first establish if you are a data controller or a data processor, then delegate your roles and responsibilities accordingly. To achieve compliance, here are a few questions to consider in the context of your business and role within the ad tech ecosystem:
- Do you have explicit end-user consent? Under GDPR, end-users need information about their data collection and a clearly defined way of opting out.
- Are you outside the EU? As far as GDPR is concerned, it doesn’t matter – the regulation applies to data processors globally.
- Are you a data controller or data processor? The prior determines how personal data is processed (as a person or business), while the latter processes the data on behalf of the controller. Controllers are subject to the EU laws and legislation, while processors aren’t directly accountable.
How War Room Addresses GDPR
Luckily, we’re already in a strong position to adhere to the GDPR’s new legal framework since we’ve always operated with a customer-centric approach.
War Room complies with the latest programmatic standards, like OpenRTB 2.4, and format standards like HTML5, VPAID 2.0, and Native Ads API 1.1, to ensure our clients have their brand safety protected, and that our programmatic advertising maintains full-transparency.
Are you seeking an update privacy policy? While we’re happy to provide advise, please note that this is not language from our lawyer and is based on research to ensure our clients comply with GDPR compliance. If you want to use this language, we recommend you have your Legal Council review it first.
1. Information We Collect:
2. How We Use Your Information:
We use the information that we collect to operate and maintain our website, send you marketing communications, respond to your questions and concerns and to help our partners improve their online offerings.
At War Room, we ensure full GDPR compliance for our clients and ensure ads are delivered with the appropriate consent, tracking, and deliverability for maximum success. To find out more about how we can service your programmatic needs and/or establish your GDPR compliance, contact us today.
