Through the eyes of a US marketing exec, Europeans are, notoriously, relatively more concerned about how ad targeting might impinge on their personal data.
A recent report from Belgium’s data protection agency claimed Facebook tracks computers of users without their consent, whether they are logged in to Facebook or not, and even if they are not registered users of the site or explicitly opt out in Europe.
So what’s the lay of the land? “Data and privacy… the level of sensitivity around those issues is so amplified in Europe compared to the US,” according to Furious Corp CEO and founder Ashley Swartz.
Swartz, who will moderate two panel discussions at the upcoming DMEXCO ad conference in Cologne, Germany, says deploying data-centric ad targeting in Europe is not so straightforward: “The use of data is parsed by country – large companies can’t just roll up a pan-European high-level first-party data set.
“Although programmatic and automation is accelerated more so in Europe than here (in the US) … adoption of addressability and targeting down to an individual level is much slower to evolve.”
However, Europe is not behind in every race. “Netflix is on fire in Europe,” Swartz says. “Adoption of smart television and over-the-top platforms is much than in the US – disruption of traditional media providers is different, but still great.”
This interview is part of a series of videos leading up to the DMEXCO conference in Cologne. The series is presented by 4C Insights + Teletrax.
