• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, January 27, 2025

PALM SPRINGS, CA -- Awareness and support of data privacy laws has grown, especially in the United States, but more consumer education is needed.

The findings from the latest IAB study — Striking the Balance: The Consumer Perspective on Privacy, Preference, and Personalization — are a validation that privacy and personalization can coexist, but there is a significant divide of digital privacy literacy in the U.S.

Overall, 86% of U.S. consumers understand advertising helps companies keep access to information on websites and apps free. Only 40% know they can access and delete the data collected about them online.

Most consumers understand the surface-level privacy concepts they encounter regularly — account settings and accepting cookies — far fewer are aware of their deeper privacy rights, with regard to accessing or deleting their data.

Only 40% know they can access and delete the data collected about them online. Not surprisingly, the groups with greater overall familiarity with privacy laws — Gen Z, Millennials, and higher-income groups — show greater awareness of these privacy rights, while Boomers lag behind.

Conducted in partnership with Talk Shoppe, findings released Monday from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) at the IAB ALM conference in Palm Springs, California suggest that consumers value laws protecting data privacy, as well as the free and open internet.

Consumers support privacy legislation, as well as website and app privacy management tools, but they are frustrated by current privacy management implementations. About 60% find today’s privacy management complex, confusing, and inconvenient.

Younger generations and higher-income consumers, with higher expectations for seamless internet experiences, report greater frustration compared with older and lower-income groups.

Seventy percent of consumers said they are familiar with current state-level of data-privacy legislation, and a majority perceive the laws to be effective.

Some 82% of U.S. consumers agree personalized ads help them discover products and services they are interested in, 80% prefer ads for products or services they are interested in or shopping for, and 79% feel more positive toward brands and retailers that tailor ads based on consumer preferences.

About 1,500 U.S. and 2,500 non-U.S. consumers participated in the study — which was fielded across the U.K., Germany, Australia, Mexico, and Brazil — to uncover awareness and perception of current data privacy legislation and website and app privacy controls.

The IAB conducted the study to learn more about the role of advertising in helping to power the free and open internet, and consumer appreciation for the exchange of data for seamless internet use.

The findings also show that 80% of U.S. consumers are concerned about their data being used for criminal activity, which highlights the importance of data security, and a mere 2% stated being concerned about the use of their data to personalize advertising.