New Research Reveals Significant Nuances in How Europeans view The Ad-Supported Internet
Brussels, 28 June 2022 — The European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) published today new survey research that illuminates the evolving attitudes, preferences, and behaviours of online consumers across the EU regarding personalised digital advertising.
The report entitled, “Your Online Voices: Your Voice, Your Choice” is authored by Clever Together, an international agency which uses large-scale engagement methods to deliver deep understanding of issues and co-create solutions. The insights presented here are derived from a month-long online conversation conducted in English and French with thousands of European consumers across the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, and Latvia.
The “Your Online Voices” conversations have, for the first time, uncovered an in-depth understanding of what European consumers actually feel about, and want from, data-driven advertising, in their own words.
The survey shows that consumer sentiments consolidate into five key themes:
- Respect for what consumers actually feel and expect from brands online;
- Relevance of advertising messaging to consumers’ interests, intents and lifestyles;
- Clarity around the entities and processes involved in delivering digital advertising;
- Practicality of information, resources, and tools available to make digital advertising useful; and,
- Meaningfulness of brand-to-consumer interactions that occur through digital advertising.
“The EDAA is committed to facilitating meaningful conversations with online consumers across Europe.” said Angela Mills Wade, Executive Director of the European Publishers Council (EPC) and Chair of the EDAA. “The “Your Voice, Your Choice” research affirms our mission and charter. We will continue to deliver tools and resources both for consumers to be better informed and for participating companies to uphold advertising practices that are fair, responsible, and respectful of European consumers preferences and expectations.”
The EDAA’s consumer insights arrive at an opportune time as companies across the digital marketing arena prepare for compliance with Europe’s imminent Digital Services Act (DSA). Specifically, Article 24 of the DSA stipulates new requirements on transparency of digital advertising practices to European consumers. EDAA transparently informs consumers about digital advertising practices through the “AdChoices Icon” – a triangular, blue-coloured icon that appears within digital ads, which provides consumers with access to direct control over the use of their Web viewing data in personalised advertising. It is the centrepiece of the organisation’s European Self-Regulatory Programme for Data-Driven Advertising. EDAA also provides information and analysis to its member organisations for readiness with the new transparency requirements under the DSA that are designed to better inform European consumers.
“During the pandemic and beyond, consumers are embracing digital channels and services with even greater enthusiasm than before,” notes Gabrielle Robitaille, Senior Digital Policy Manager for the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), a founding organisation in the EDAA and a current board member. “It is vital that we as brands not only deliver real value but continue to engage ethically and responsibly in our many consumer conversations online.”
2022 marks the EDAA’s 10th anniversary as Europe’s leading self-regulatory organisation for digital advertising. The organisation views the “Your Online Voices” project and outcomes as a catalyst for its further work on aligning industry practices and consumer expectations within a continually evolving regulatory environment.
ABOUT EDAA
The European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) is a Brussels-based consortium founded in 2012 by the leading European advertising associations, representing brand marketers, advertising agencies and other companies across the interactive media, marketing, and advertising technology sectors of Europe. The largest, pan-European organisation of its kind, the EDAA manages the European Self-Regulatory Programme for Data-Driven Advertising, which offers European consumers information, choice and control over their online experience with tailored, personalised advertising.
The “AdChoices” Icon is a consumer-facing, interactive symbol managed by the EDAA that designates data-driven digital advertising and serves as a useful mechanism for consumers to exercise informed choices.
ABOUT CLEVER TOGETHER
We help our partners to understand truly complex issues, to co-create solutions, and to improve and sustain organisational performance, together. With crowdsourcing and deliberative methods at our core, and a global network of analysts, creatives, strategists, and innovators, our work helps organisations and communities to adapt and innovate, fast.
For more information:
Federica Detomas
European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA)
federica.detomas@edaa.eu | +32 (0) 2 213 41 80
