Privacy and Consent Concerns for CTV Ad-Targeting
Leveraging viewer data to identify and target users is the sine qua non of CTV advertising, and the closer channels can bring advertisers to the viewers, the more revenue they can bring to their platform. But it’s always a balancing act when it comes to protecting the privacy of their audience, as Revry CEO/Co-Founder Damian Pelliccione and Warner Bros. Discovery Product Manager Dan Trotta explain in this candid conversation from Streaming Media Connect with Advertiser Perceptions’ Erin Firneno. However, the privacy and consent issues and strategies for addressing them differ dramatically between indie networks like Revry and behemoths like WBD.
The importance of protecting data for minority groups, particularly the LGBTQ community
Pelliccione emphasizes the importance of protecting data for minority groups, particularly the LGBTQ community, especially in light of the new incoming and highly regressive US administration. Because Revry is a smaller platform, they cannot always avoid working with major DSPs such as Magnite and The Trade Desk, in particular, who are giving away minority group data that should be protected. “So this now becomes a major philosophical question that we're having to answer both from a tech perspective, but also just whether or not we want to work with those folks [who] give away that data specifically because it is so protected and so inherent to who we are,” they say. “We don't want to give away too much on the privacy side. And so this becomes the challenge. [It’s] our biggest pain point that we're actually trying to currently solve.”
“I think that's beautiful,” Firneno says. “To protect your consumers should be a no-brainer. Everyone should be doing that. To put the consumer first in the equation, I think, is fabulous. And I'm sure that certain advertisers recognize that and value that, I hope.”
WBD’s prioritization of consumer opt-outs and data protection, even at the cost of limiting advertising opportunities
Trotta says that at a massive conglomerate such as Warner Bros. Discovery, they have the luxury of more leverage to ensure better consumer data privacy protection.
“We take an overly conservative approach with something like the California Consumer Privacy Act,” he says. “We want to be as adherent to that as possible to the extent where we might constrict other opportunities. And we, fortunately, have the scale where we can make that sacrifice, and these opt-outs [can] occur, where we can no longer track our users and make [it] as easy for them as possible to opt-out. Because that is now the law of the land, and we want to make sure we are protecting [consumers] appropriately.”
He further outlines the challenges of dedicating close adherence to these laws. “[A] request comes from the advertiser, hits ad sales, goes to the ad strategy team, then goes to ad product. Once we start looking into it and we run into highly restrictive rules in California or highly restrictive rules in Europe, we have to say, ‘Guys, we can't get you this quickly, if at all. And then it goes back to ad strategy and ad sales, and then finally back to the advertiser, in what must be to the advertiser like a long, slow, frustrating game. But because of all of the complexity involved in these layers, it is unfortunately the only way we get to move the ball forward.”
Join us in February 2025 for more thought leadership, actionable insights, and lively debate at Streaming Media Connect.
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