• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, September 28, 2023

U.S publishers do not yet face the same regulatory scrutiny as their counterparts in the EU. But they could find themselves in trouble anyway, judging by the new global media data compliance report from Compliant and Peer39.

For one thing, 67% of U.S. publishers do not offer consent choices for consumers. This is dangerous considering that the states are passing ever-tougher laws — for example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

The solution for publishers would appear to be a consent management platform (CMP). But 91% of publishers that have CMPs are passing Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to third parties without consent. 

Furthermore, 82% of U.S. publishers have higher data leakage risk from using too many vendors, piggybacking or tags. 

To determine all this, the firms studied over one billion impressions measured across more than 1,000 programmatic media campaigns. The findings were released this week at the World Federation of Advertisers' Digital Governance Exchange in New York.

Come on, guys — email marketers do a lot better despite their reputation as spammers; they now require double opt-in (or consent) before they will let someone subscribe. 

But it’s time for full disclosure. This news comes as Compliant, a data compliance technology company, and Peer39, a global provider of pre-bid contextual suitability and quality solutions for marketers, are offering a data compliance metric for programmatic media campaigns: The Campaign Compliance Index (CCI). Compliant’s CCI, which is being provided via Peer39’s Contextual Data Marketplace, will allow publishers, advertisers and agencies to assess data compliance in digital campaigns, they claim.  

Just how behind are U.S. publishers? A study done by Compliant earlier this year (but not published) shows that 20% of U.S. publisher websites have CMPs, compared with 92% of EU publisher sites. 

That study notes, “In the US, where CMPs are not yet a legal requirement, the collection and use of data is often inconsistent with consumer expectations, and sometimes in direct conflict with opt-in and opt-out choices. In this respect, data compliance remains the exception rather than the norm.”

Other vendors are also offering products in this space. For instance, InMobi recently acquired Quantcast Choice, a CMP, to help publishers comply with laws like the GDPR in Europe and the CCPA here at home.

Publishers may not have placed this issue at the top of their priority list. But they should, given that most of what they do is now digital and many jurisdictions are ready to pounce on them.