On September 25th, we held a 2.5-hour long webinar providing a Complete Overview of the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework. As is usually the case, we had many interested attendees who were keen on learning more. While we usually do our best to make these as interactive as possible, we were simply overwhelmed with questions and had to skip over quite a few to be able to remain on schedule. For this reason, we have decided to answer the questions in a series of blogs. This is the fourth and penultimate blog in the series, dealing with questions about the policies of the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework.
The IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework’s policies do allow for the gaining of support across multiple publishers, which is called ‘global consent’ in the policies of the Framework. Server-specific (meaning for a particular site) disclosures and consent take priority over global consent. If a user makes a global consent choice first, and then later makes a service-specific choice, the service-specific choice will determine a user’s consent status for that service.
This means that for the second question, the consent that hasn’t been given on the other publisher’s site would take precedence over the first publisher’s site, because it is both more recent and more specific. The Consent Management Provider (CMP) has a duty to resolve any conflicts of this kind.
We believe that in order for processing of personal data to be lawful, the user must know who is processing their data and for what purpose.
Putting this information only in a privacy policy that the user is not directed to in the first instance runs the risk of not being considered a proper disclosure by data protection authorities. It would be more appropriate to surface this information in a CMP interface.
The GDPR provides for six co-equal legal bases which are enumerated in Article 6(1). The six legal bases are, in order:
The IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework allows users to express their consent, or lack thereof, granularly to (a) the setting of cookies under the rules of the ePrivacy Directive; (b) the processing of their personal data for each of the purposes standardized by the framework; by (c) specific Vendors setting cookies and/or processing personal data. It is therefore significantly more granular than an “all or nothing” approach. defined purposes
The current five data processing purposes are fully defined in the Transparency & Consent Framework Policies, and expanded on in the FAQs document. The descriptions used represent the standardized interpretation of the current processing purposes. These five purposes were defined by IAB Europe in conjunction with our members as part of the launch of the Framework.
As part of a large update to the Transparency & Consent Framework, we are working with our industry partners to define more granular and ‘user-friendly’ purposes.
It is complicated to define where to ‘set the bar’ on gathering of consent, due to different approaches by different data protection authorities in Europe. While the GDPR is clear in what it requires for valid consent (an affirmative action, freely given, specific, and informed), there is still room for interpretation by data protection authorities on what each of these factors requires. An affirmative action may in some markets constitute scrolling down after being served a consent notice, whereas others require an obvious yes/no choice to be presented. Authorities may also have different interpretations of when consent is considered freely given, and what level of granularity is considered specific enough.
Due to these differences, the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework leaves freedom for publishers and their CMPs to interpret how best to adapt their interface to their relevant market(s). In terms of specificity of purposes, the Framework draws a very clear baseline of requiring proper disclosure of the relevant defined purposes.
In future, it is foreseeable that a more precise legal understanding will be developed through interpretations from judicial bodies. An EU-wide understanding is only likely to arise from a judgment at the Court of Justice of the European Union. If a clear standard is developed, then the Framework will be adapted if necessary to uphold this.
In this blog series, IAB Europe’s Brand Advertising Committee and its members explore key perspectives and the latest developments in the drive for a viewable, quality digital advertising environment.
Stevan Randjelovic - Brand Safety Manager, GroupM EMEA
Press headlines about inappropriate brand adjacencies, fraud cases and low viewability levels that have been gracing cover pages of global and local media, for more than a year now, are successfully shining new light on why investing in quality media is important. But what is quality media anyway?
At GroupM, we believe quality digital advertising is viewable by a real human who is in our target audience, served in an appropriate editorial environment and underpinned by independent industry certification and third-party verification, while being mindful of user-experience and privacy.
Why quality over quantity?
There are 3 distinct reasons.
By investing in quality media, you are much more likely to mitigate financial risk as you will actually pay for an ad that is viewable by a human who could engage with your products and services GroupM UK and Newsworks conducted a study which covered 84 campaigns, over 398 million impressions and 28,549 filtered survey responses. The study compared impression performance in premium media - defined as a website where consumers have a deeper relationship or affinity with the brand, for example news brand publishers or sports websites - and open exchange media.
The study proved that exposure on premium media is 58% more likely to be 100% in view for at least five seconds, than across open exchange media. Conversely, the study found that 48% of measurable ads on the open exchange were never actually seen.
Premium media also has carefully built or curated content which attracts audiences and readers who trust the publisher. By working with publishers who allow for 3rd party verification to curate appropriate brand adjacencies, advertisers can address reputational risk which threatens to erode advertiser’s brand. Let us not forget that reputation is probably the most valued asset of any brand.
According to the aforementioned GroupM UK and Newsworks’ research, ads in quality digital environments are 98% more likely to be placed fully above the fold, and 273% more likely to prompt a hover from a user. Premium placements also produced stronger response rates across the board with average uplifts of +10.5% for brand awareness, +19.2% for ad recall, +9.7% for brand perception and +10.3% for recommendation intent, therefore driving better return on advertising spend and performance against marketing objectives.
As the industry fully embraces the ‘quality-first’ approach and moves towards investing in fraud-free, highly viewable and contextually brand safe environments, what is considered to be ‘premium’ now will become the new normal. The differentiating factor will be the quality of audience and their willingness to share their personal data with publishers and their partners. While this is an important aspect of quality media today, in the post-GDPR world and as time passes by, it will become even more crucial for ad effectiveness as it will further allow targeting of appropriate ads to interested and receptive consumers in a non-intrusive manner.
Finally, we are encouraged by the action the industry is undertaking through individual projects or industry bodies such as IAB Europe. This is even more important as we all know too well that a problem cannot be solved without full participation of all stakeholders. GroupM will continue to promote the importance of quality.
Native advertising spend is expected to reach $85.5 billion by 2020, double the current level. Indeed, the growth of digital advertising as a whole has doubled in size over the past 5 years according to IAB Europe’s AdEx Benchmark 2017 Report. This incredible rise is in part due formats being available programmatically.
This new IAB Europe white paper provides insight into the status of programmatic native advertising in Europe and delivers guidance on key strategic and implementation considerations. It explores the challenges that advertisers, agencies and publishers are facing and how transparency and control are just as important for native buyers and sellers as they are for any other format traded programmatically.
IAB Europe would like to thank the white paper leader that helped to edit and compile the final draft:
And the white paper contributors that provided content for this white paper:
Register and download the white paper below:
Digital video advertising is experiencing strong growth; spend in digital video advertising grew by more than 30% and programmatic video by more than 60% in 2017. IAB Europe aims to gather insight into what is driving this growth including adoption, strategies and attitudes in its latest survey.
Therefore, IAB Europe invites the industry to share their thoughts on digital video advertising in this survey to elevate understanding and identify areas for guidance to help with strategy development.
The survey will take no longer than 10 minutes and will close on Friday 25 January. All participants will receive a copy of the results and identified industry priorities.
Please pass on the survey link to any relevant colleagues. Your response will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Please contact us if you have any comments or questions.
The 2017 Attitudes towards Digital Video Advertising report can be accessed here.
Thank you for helping us to create another important asset for the European digital industry!
The European Authority (the operating division of the European Viewability Initiative, resourced by IAB Europe and EACA) recently published a press release announcing the appointment of three independent media auditing organisations to undertake annual technical measurement audits of any company providing viewability measurement services across Europe. The appointment of the three auditors facilitates delivery of the framework's remit to establish a consistent Viewability solution across Europe and to minimise measurement discrepancies.
As a next step we would like to invite publishers to join a webinar in which we will provide an update and discuss the implications and benefits for publishers. You will have the opportunity to ask questions.
The speakers will be:
The webinar will take place on Monday 10 December at 15.00 CET / 14.00 GMT.
This complimentary webinar showcased some of the winners of the MIXX Awards Europe 2018 which recognise and celebrate the year’s best digital advertising campaigns in Europe.
The winning campaigns presented were:
Programmatic Advertising - GOLD
Dry Shampoo
Dove
Initiative Russia
Campaign Effectiveness - GOLD
Dare to Play
Special Olympics Belgium
LDV United
Effective Use of Data - GOLD
Jazz Version of the City
Akbank
MediaCom
The speakers were:
Watch the recording and download the slides here.
The Virtual Programmatic Day H2 2018 brought together industry experts and thought-leaders to explore the latest trends, drivers and barriers impacting programmatic trading in Europe. The key topics covered include the size of the programmatic advertising market in Europe, the attitudes and strategies, transparency and the impact of GDPR on programmatic trading.
The agenda and speakers:
Watch the recording and explore the presentations HERE and HERE.
Links to reports and resources referenced in the Virtual Programmatic Day:
The BBC and Essence efficiently drove subscriptions for the FT using DoubleClick’s Programmatic Guaranteed with Audience Lists.
Watch the case-study here.
This case study was originally published here.
The first edition of the IAB Europe Human Capital in the Digital Environment Report highlights a series of findings which come to support the efforts of the industry to combat the skill gap and talent shortage currently affecting it. The report aims to identify the main challenges that both recruiters and candidates face when hiring or transitioning into digital marketing and communication, with a focus on training needs and potential future priorities for education on digital topics. Prevalent throughout the report is also a clear incongruity between the perceptions of employers and candidates, ranging from the skills needed in the industry, to the abilities possessed and the salaries expected.
In terms of the actual topics that HR specialist and trainers in companies have identified as most pressing for potential candidates or existing staff, programmatic and analytics lead the field – 56% and 54%, respectively. Also of note are topics related to video advertising (43%), campaign planning (39%), emerging technologies (37%), cross-media (36%), and content marketing (35%). Least interesting as training topics for the respondents are DOOH, Digital Audio, and email marketing – 11.81%, 14.17%, and 14.96%, respectively.
As far as training budgets are concerned, both employers and employees are willing to invest in digital training in the coming years. 43% of employers taking part in this study expect their training budgets for staff to increase next year. 85% of candidates are willing to invest in themselves to bring their skills and abilities required by a career in digital up to speed.
Through the Education and Training Committee as well as all its other committees, work groups and task forces, IAB Europe will continue to take steps to support the training efforts of its members and industry as a whole in the pursuit of adequately prepared current and future generations of digital talent.
Brussels, 21 November 2018 – IAB Europe has today published the inaugural edition of the Human Capital in the Digital Environment Report highlighting a series of findings which come to support the efforts of the industry to combat the skill gap and talent shortage currently affecting it.
The report drafted under the Education and Training Committee with support from the Research Committee, aims to identify the main challenges that both recruiters and candidates face when hiring or transitioning into digital marketing and communication, with a focus on the training needs and potential future priorities for education on digital topics. Prevalent throughout the report is also a clear incongruity between the perceptions of employers and candidates, ranging from the skills needed in the industry, to the abilities possessed and the salaries expected.
In terms of the actual topics that HR specialist and trainers in companies have identified as most pressing for potential candidates or existing staff, programmatic and analytics lead the field – 56% and 54%, respectively. Also of note are topics related to video advertising (43%), campaign planning (39%), emerging technologies (37%), cross-media (36%), and content marketing (35%). Least interesting as training topics for the respondents are DOOH, Digital Audio, and email marketing – 11.81%, 14.17%, and 14.96%, respectively.
Townsend Feehan, CEO, IAB Europe said, “The Human Capital in the Digital Environment 2018 Report is a solid first step towards building a valuable resource for the industry which will help identify areas of focus for the years ahead and priority challenges that need to be overcome in the bid to offset the skill gap in digital advertising.”
Another key area of concern identified by the report is the education system, which in many cases is not tailored to the digital age and fails to prepare young talent for the rigors and demands of the digital advertising industry, with some respondents marking this as one of the causes for the shortage of digital talent in the industry.
Neslihan Olcay, Chair of the IAB Europe Education & Training Committee and CEO of Wavemaker Turkey, commented: “The results of the survey show there is an acute shortage of skilled talents in the market, which is attributed by the respondents mainly to the education system that does not prepare students for the digital industry in the digital age. We hope the findings of this survey would inspire the development of new and future-proof educational programmes by the formal education institutions as well as by the corporations in our industry.”
One of the main discrepancies arises when candidates are invited to self-assess. Asked to rate their abilities in digital on a scale of 1 to 10, the average score of all respondents was on the high end of the scale - over 7. This, in an environment in which employers consistently indicate the inability of candidates to accurately evaluate their skills for the job they are applying to as one of the top hurdles in recruiting valuable talent.
There is hope, however, as both employers and employees are willing to invest in digital training in the coming years. 43% of employers taking part in this study expect their training budgets for staff to increase next year. 85% of candidates are willing to invest in themselves to bring their skills and abilities required by a career in digital up to speed.
Ewa Opach, Education and Certification Director, IAB Poland, stated: “The e-marketing industry has tremendous educational needs and is subject to the most dynamic changes, requiring constant updating of qualifications in order to preserve relevance. Candidates overestimate self-assessment of qualifications, which leads to overstated and unrealistic financial expectations. But there is a silver lining: both employers and employees are willing, at least declaratively, to amend the situation.”
Through the Education and Training Committee as well as all its other committees, work groups and task forces, IAB Europe will continue to take steps to support the training efforts of its members and industry as a whole in the pursuit of adequately prepared current and future generations of digital talent.
About IAB Europe
IAB Europe is the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising ecosystem. Its mission is to promote the development of this innovative sector and ensure its sustainability by shaping the regulatory environment, demonstrating the value digital advertising brings to Europe’s economy, to consumers and to the market, and developing and facilitating the uptake of harmonised business practices that take account of changing user expectations and enable digital brand advertising to scale in Europe.
Abbie Clement, Head of Content, iubenda
In this article, Abbie Clement, Head of Content at iubenda, takes a look at the findings of the recently published Human Capital in the Digital Environment report and touches upon an issue that might not immediately come to mind when considering the root causes of the digital talent shortage: communication.
The European digital advertising market has doubled in size in 5 years, with digital being the largest advertising medium in Europe and ad spend totaling over 48Bn in the last year. However, despite major investment and visibility, IAB Europe's recent Report on Human Capital in the Digital Environment indicates that the industry is suffering a shortage of skilled human resources and faced with a difficult recruitment process.
The major contributing factors being (according to respondents of the survey) that the lack of technically skilled applicants, abundance of underqualified specialists and the inability of candidates to properly self-assess lead to an imbalance between demand and availability of appropriately skilled candidates. This, in turn, leads to inflated salary expectations of applicants, even where they are underskilled.
Simply put, the current pool of candidates, by and large, are not providing what employers in the industry need. Another issue indicated by the report that's worth noting here is a lack of investment in ongoing training and skill development of active staff.
Now, if we take a step back and look at the issue, it becomes apparent that there is, in fact, one core problem — communication. Odd, considering that the industry is built around the principle of not just communicating, but communicating effectively. In fact, it almost seems counterintuitive that a lack of communication would be at the root of internal issues. Whether this is due to a historically competitive nature of the industry, a consequence of rapid and exponential growth in the digital age or something else remains up for debate, but the fact remains that a lack of effective communication across occupational lines within the industry provides for an environment where candidates are unclear on what skills are truly required and how to measure those skills, and employers are tasked with valuing said skills in relation to what's available rather than what's actually needed.
Effective communication, of course, can be achieved in various ways, however, it is my opinion that the method most conducive to solving the current issues would be to create a unified voice by standardizing qualifications.
One way to do this would be to implement a standard training and certification programme.
Such a programme would allow employers and the industry at large to communicate clearly what is actually required in no uncertain terms. One advantage here is that while certification may set a base standard for technical requirements, it still leaves room for employers to factor in relevant soft-skills and personality traits when making a hiring decision. This is particularly relevant as a major issue highlighted in the recent report is the fact that candidates rated soft-skills such as patience and organizational abilities above technical skills — distinctly misaligned with employer expectations, which placed technical skills as most important with soft skills coming in second.
Another benefit of this approach is that standardizing base qualifications raises the overall quality of the recruitment pool. Though such an approach may appear to reduce the size of an already limited pool, the principles of basic targeting apply here in that the candidates that make the effort to meet requirements can be assumed to be truly interested in the role and technically knowledgeable, which should, in turn, result in a more efficient recruitment process and less time and resources wasted. Specialization also becomes easier to recruit for as it can be more clearly defined.
Lastly, the standardization of qualifications would also assist employers in fairly and appropriately valuing the roles that they're recruiting for. Candidates would have a realistic idea of what's required and the industry can set a base standard for what that is worth. This is additionally and particularly relevant in an industry as dynamic as digital advertising in that standard qualifications would also make it easier to evaluate current employee performance, identify where organizational output is lacking in relation to industry standards, and to better identify where follow-up training is needed.
One related point highlighted in the HCitDE Report is that, according to some recruiters surveyed, the wages in other sectors exceeded those that the digital industry could offer, resulting in fewer available qualified candidates. Standardizing addresses this issue in that a high-quality candidate pool is more likely to result in a positive return on investment for each resource acquired from that pool. This better empowers employers to offer remuneration packages that can more effectively compete with other industries.
Standardized certification (and the implied related vocational training) allow us to indicate expectations while providing the opportunity and means for interested candidates to meet them. This approach allows for more direct and effective communication between the industry and its human capital.
On 30 October, the French data protection authority (CNIL) published a notice declaring that French start-up company VECTAURY failed to meet conditions for valid consent under data protection law and ordering the company to cease processing geolocation data for advertising purposes without an appropriate legal basis. VECTAURY has been ordered in particular to ensure it obtains GDPR-compliant consent from users of the apps from whom VECTAURY receives real-time bidding opportunities before processing these users’ data moving forward. In addition, the CNIL ordered VECTAURY to delete all data obtained on the basis of the invalid consent.
Some commentators have suggested that VECTAURY ended up in the CNIL’s cross-hairs because it built a Consent Management Provider (CMP) that implemented the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF). VECTAURY registered itself as a TCF CMP in May of this year.
The suggestion is wrong: the CNIL’s investigation started prior to VECTAURY ever registering itself as a TCF CMP. In addition, on many of the points on which the CNIL considers VECTAURY’s conduct to have violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it also violated the TCF’s policies. Indeed, had the company adhered to those policies, not only would it have been better-placed to meet its obligations under the law, but some of the most problematic of the concerns raised by the CNIL would have been addressed.
In its notice, the CNIL finds that in two scenarios VECTAURY did not have a legal basis for the processing of personal data under the GDPR. First, where VECTAURY collected and processed geolocation data from mobile app users of mobile apps via its SDK, and a second where it collected and processed personal data received in real-time bids for inventory on mobile apps.
The legal basis claimed by VECTAURY was the consent of the users whose data was processed. The CNIL’s notice declares that in both scenarios, VECTAURY and its partners failed to meet the conditions for valid consent – and as a result it could not serve as a legal basis for processing.
In the first scenario, where VECTAURY collected and processed geolocation data from mobile app users of mobile apps via its SDK, the CNIL noted that default Android OS or iOS notification windows asking for the user’s permission for geolocation data to be collected did not allow VECTAURY to obtain valid consent. VECTAURY then developed a CMP built on the basis of the TCF as a suggested way forward which it submitted to the CNIL. The CNIL opined that while VECTAURY’s CMP would improve transparency for users, it still did not meet the CNIL’s standard for valid consent, because it (a) failed to ensure that users were appropriately informed of the identities of companies that wished to process their data, and (b) failed to ensure that consent was expressed by a clear, affirmative action.
The notice states that in some circumstances, users were not made aware of the fact of VECTAURY (or other companies) seeking consent to process their data at all, and in a consent request UI developed by VECTAURY the default settings didn’t require users to toggle the settings or take some other action in order to convey their agreement.
In both cases, VECTAURY’s CMP also failed to meet its obligations under the TCF’s policies.
In order to be valid under the GDPR, consent must be “informed” and “specific”. Users need to know which companies wish to process their data, and for what purposes. Other information disclosures must accompany this transparency about who is requesting consent, and why. If VECTAURY's partners failed to disclose to their users the fact that VECTAURY was one of the companies seeking consent to process their personal data, the conduct of both the partners and VECTAURY was clearly non-compliant. The TCF’s policies require that a consent request conveys to the user both the identities of the companies who wish to seek to process a user’s personal data, as well as the purposes of the processing in a way that enables the user to appreciate that each purpose and company are distinct and separate from one another.
On the “affirmative action” item, the position is also unambiguous. VECTAURY appears to have implemented a consent UI in which a user would be considered to have consented to data processing despite taking no affirmative action of any kind to convey agreement. This is a clear breach of the GDPR and of the TCF’s policies, both of which require a user to affirmatively consent.
Some of the conduct that the CNIL interpreted as being in breach of the GDPR had to do with how information was presented in the UIs of the apps with whom VECTAURY partnered. Here the CNIL relied on opinions from the Article 29 Working Party of European data protection authorities (DPAs) – and in some cases on its own interpretation of that guidance – to arrive at its finding of illegality.
For example, the CNIL found that the UI in the apps did not inform users of all the controllers who were seeking consent for data processing at the exact moment – or in the exact UI layer – as the request for consent. Similarly, detailed information on the data processing for which consent was being requested was not provided simultaneously. Also, the CNIL found the language used to explain to consumers why data needed to be processed to be hard to understand.
These are more subjective items on which reasonable people can disagree. In the case of presentation to users of the details of the controllers seeking consent simultaneously with the consent request itself, CMPs need to make a judgement about how much information users can assimilate in a single screen. It appears that the UI that VECTAURY implemented in the CMP it recommended to its app partners required the user to click on several links in order to navigate to the list of companies that wished to process their data (including VECTAURY). Arguably a better implementation would have reduced the number of clicks required. Indeed, the TCF’s policies require a link to be provided to the list of companies and for the processing purposes to be disclosed on the first layer of a consent notice.
In the case of the definitions of data processing purposes for which user consent was being sought, here the CNIL clearly has a point. But striking the right balance between specificity and granularity, on the one hand, and simplicity and ease of comprehension, on the other, is not easy. The definitions that seem to have prompted the finding of illegality include some of the five definitions currently included in the TCF. They are being revised, in a process that began during the summer following our first meetings with DPAs – including the CNIL – to present the Framework. One objective of the revision is to make the definitions easier for users to understand.
Perhaps more importantly, we need to consider the best way forward for the Framework and for users on the points where the GDPR itself is silent or unclear, including how to reconcile the apparently conflicting imperatives of ease of user experience, on the one hand, and timely and complete information, on the other, when it comes to information disclosures to users in the context of consent requests.
The CNIL’s discussion of the second scenario where VECTAURY obtained and processed of data received through bid requests, has also made it evident that we will have to do more to support proper implementations by CMPs of the rules of the Framework and the GDPR. This is imperative if the TCF’s signals are to be trusted by the companies who rely on it to mean that appropriate transparency has been provided to users and valid consent has been obtained. The Framework’s signals need to be reliable since the CNIL confirmed that it expects a company to be able to ensure and demonstrate that the consent it relies on is valid at its source but putting in place contractual provisions does not meet the requirement of demonstrating that consent is valid. As it is entirely unfeasible for millions of websites and apps to be individually vetted by thousands of technology partners, we need a trusted Framework the proper implementation of which can ensure and signal that transparency and consent have been established in line with the GDPR.
We welcome the prospect of discussing these issues with the CNIL and with other DPAs over the coming months.
Having been made aware of a possible breach of the TCF’s policies by VECTAURY’s CMP, we will launch a review of the same. We expect to support the company in its efforts to adhere to the TCF’s policies, and accede to the CNIL’s order.
For more information on TCF roll-out and GDPR legal compliance for the digital advertising industry, please write to us at matthiesen@iabeurope.eu or feehan@iabeurope.eu, or check out https://advertisingconsent.eu.
