-- Awareness of the OBA Icon
has Doubled in Britain and 1 in 25
European Consumers Have Visited the Your Online Choices
website.
BRUSSELS, Dec. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A new online study
commissioned by the European Interactive Digital Advertising
Alliance (EDAA) and TRUSTe, a leading data privacy management
company, has revealed that awareness of an icon aimed at providing
greater transparency and control over behavioural advertising has
doubled in Great Britain and, in
just two years, the EU Self-Regulatory Programme underpinning this
has achieved recognition and engagement.
The European Advertising Consumer Research Index 2014 provides a
comprehensive picture of attitudes and awareness of the EU
Self-Regulatory Programme across Europe. The study was conducted by Ipsos MORI,
on behalf of TRUSTe and the EDAA from 21 October – 10 November 2014 with over 10,000 respondents
across 10 different European countries. The countries chosen —
Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Poland and Sweden — were selected based on range of
geographic spread and current implementation status of the EU
Self-Regulatory Programme. An EDAA consumer awareness campaign took
place in Greece in 2014 and one in
Sweden had just commenced when the
research was conducted. Comparison data is available for certain
findings from Great Britain where
TRUSTe commissioned comparable research carried out by Harris in
2012 and 2013.
The results show that awareness of the icon continues to rise in
Great Britain with awareness
increasing from 13% (2012) to 22% (2013) to 26% (2014) over the
last two years and that the EDAA's 2014 consumer awareness campaign
provided a significantly greater level of awareness in Greece, where 39% of respondents are familiar
with the icon.
Among those who have seen the icon in Sweden and Greece, around 1 in 3 (both 32%) have chosen
to find out more by clicking on the icon, with this figure rising
to around half in Spain (49%). The
Programme has been shown to have the potential for a positive
effect on attitudes too, with 54% in Portugal more favourable towards the idea of
online behavioural advertising if they have information about how
adverts are delivered to them online and the option of managing
their privacy preferences.
A summary of key findings include:
- Consumer awareness of the icon is highest in Greece (39%) where the most recent consumer
awareness campaign took place
- Across four countries surveyed (GB, Greece, Portugal and Hungary) the recognition is significantly
higher when the icon is accompanied by the Admarker text e.g.
"AdChoices"
- Among those who have previously seen the icon, the proportion
who report they have clicked on it is highest in Spain (49%)
- 1 in 25 respondents aged between 18-50 in the ten markets
surveyed say that they have visited the www.youronlinechoices.eu
website.
- Across the ten countries, the majority (57%) of 18-50 year olds
who report they have visited www.youronlinechoices.eu correctly
believe its primary purpose is to provide instructions to manage
their advertising preferences.
- The Programme has the potential to improve consumer attitudes
with 54% of respondents in Portugal saying that having the option of
managing their privacy preferences and information about how
adverts are delivered to them online would make them more
favourable towards behavioural or interest-based ads.
"Consumer trust and understanding is essential to the digital
advertising industry," commented Nick
Stringer, Chair of the EDAA and Director of Regulatory
Affairs at IAB UK. "The findings of the 2014 European Advertising
Consumer Research Index demonstrate how the EU industry initiative
is helping to empower consumers with greater transparency and
control over their online behavioural advertising preferences."
"The results of this year's European Advertising Consumer
Research Index show foundations for growth of this important
European self–regulatory initiative that gives transparency and
control over advertising choices to European consumers and is
achieving increasing recognition and momentum amongst the industry
and regulators," said Chris Babel,
CEO, TRUSTe.
Copies of the research infographic are available here.
About TRUSTe
TRUSTe is the leading global Data Privacy Management (DPM)
company and powers trust in the data economy by enabling businesses
to safely collect and use customer data across their customer,
employee, and vendor channels. Our SaaS–based DPM Platform gives
users control over all phases of data privacy management from
conducting assessments and implementing compliance controls to
managing ongoing monitoring. Our DPM Services, including
assessments and certifications, are delivered by an expert team of
privacy professionals. Thousands of companies worldwide rely on
TRUSTe to minimise compliance risk and protect their brand. See
http://www.truste.com
About the EDAA
The European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) is
a non-profit organisation based in Brussels and is responsible for enacting key
aspects of the self-regulatory initiative for Online Behavioural
Advertising (OBA) across
Europe. EDAA principally acts as
the central licensing body for the OBA Icon and provides technical means for
consumers to exercise transparency and control over OBA through the youronlinechoices.eu online
consumer choice platform. EDAA is governed by EU-level
organisations which make up the value chain of OBA within Europe and acts to ensure European consistency
in approach. More information can be found at www.edaa.eu
Research Methodology
Research was conducted online by Ipsos MORI using an Omnibus
methodology among a representative quota sample of c. 1,000 adults
(of varying age groups) in each of the ten countries included. The
following table contains details regarding sample size, age of
respondents interviewed and dates of fieldwork:
Country
|
Sample
|
Fieldwork
dates
|
Great
Britain
|
1,007 adults aged
16-75
|
21st –
23rd October 2014
|
France
|
1,007 adults aged
16-75
|
21st –
23rd October 2014
|
Germany
|
1,008 adults aged
18-70
|
24th –
28th October 2014
|
Italy
|
1,006 adults aged
16-70
|
24th –
28th October 2014
|
Spain
|
1,006 adults aged
16-65
|
28th –
31st October 2014
|
Sweden
|
1,003 adults aged
16-65
|
28th
October – 10th November 2014
|
Hungary
|
1,003 adults aged
16-60
|
28th
October – 3rd November 2014
|
Poland
|
1,001 adults aged
16-60
|
28th –
31st October 2014
|
Portugal
|
1,000 adults aged
18-55
|
28th
October – 4th November 2014
|
Greece
|
1,001 adults aged
18-50
|
28th
October – 5th November 2014
|
Data were weighted to the known population profiles for each
country.
125 adults questioned in Spain,
395 in Greece and 136 in
Sweden reported that they have
seen the icon.
Across the ten countries, there were 7,417 18-50 year olds
interviewed, with 326 18-50 year olds reporting they have visited
www.youronlinechoices.eu.
|
Unweighted
base
|
% who have seen the
icon with
Admarker text online
|
% who have seen
the
icon online
|
Great
Britain
|
1,007
|
26%
|
20%
|
Greece
|
1,001
|
39%
|
24%
|
Portugal
|
1,000
|
24%
|
15%
|
Hungary
|
1,003
|
16%
|
11%
|
Comparison data is included from research conducted online by
Harris Interactive on behalf of TRUSTe between 12-19 June 2013 among a total of 1,254 UK
internet users, aged 18 and older from 31 May to 6 June 2012 among a total of 1,027 UK adults aged
18 and older. The online surveys were conducted using the Harris
Interactive Online Consumer Panel.