For several years, regulations concerning the processing of personal data and the free and informed consent of users in the collection of this data have accumulated. Advertisers and marketing experts have had to adapt to cope with these changes which have impacted the strategies put in place. Today, you must act without delay, because from the first quarter of 2024 , the distribution of your ads could be severely limited if you do not make good decisions.

Before March 2024, opt for a certified CMP! 

Next March, the new Digital Markets Act (DMA) will come into force. This legislation will add regulations for all major online platforms active within the European Economic Area.

The elements covered by this legislation include: 

• Search engines (Google, Bing, etc.)
• Virtual assistants (Alexa, Google Assistant, SIRI, etc.)
• Web browsers (Chrome; Edge, etc.)
• Social networks (Facebook, Instagram, X, etc.)

On all these platforms, collecting explicit consent from the user to use personal data enabling targeting will be mandatory . If this type of initiative meets the legitimate interests of Internet users and ensures the protection of personal data, its impact on your business can be significant.

Opt for a certified CMP 

To be supported in preparing advertising ecosystems for regulatory requirements, it is necessary to use a CMP (Consent Management Platform) . These tools are specially designed to manage the user’s informed consent. 

By using such a tool, your company can ensure that it meets all regulatory and legislative constraints : 

• Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive (2002/58/EC)
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Digital Markets Act (DMA)

However, to guarantee full compliance with the law, it is necessary to choose your CMP carefully . By opting for a certified CMP, your company will be able to collect data and collect the manifestation of the user’s wishes in a calm manner. 

Why is it essential for your business? 

If the DMA primarily concerns large companies with turnover exceeding 75 billion euros such as Google or Facebook, these platforms will have to modify the way their products and services operate. As a result, all users and advertisers will then be impacted.

Thus, to respond to changes in personal data legislation, you may be required to make additional decisions about various essential elements of your advertising strategies: 

• Monetization solutions ;
• Audience measurement ;
• Predictive modeling ;
• AI- powered advertising.

As you can see, although the requirement for consent by the new European regulation may seem trivial, this is absolutely not the case. You need to react immediately to continue serving your ads and gather insights to ensure the performance of your campaigns.

Given the complexity of the factors to monitor to ensure your compliance, it is important to act on two axes : making the right decisions for your campaigns and using a certified CMP.

The need to deploy an adapted strategy 

As an advertiser, you can already take action. Start by enabling or updating consent mode . The latter refers to a Google technology that allows you to track users on all your digital devices even in the event of refusal . Of course, the tracking is anonymized and does not use cookies. 

This process takes place in 4 steps: 

• The user accesses a website or an application: He then indicates his position on the processing of personal data and gives or does not give his consent.
• Consent mode provides information to Google: The user has or has not given consent to use cookies or identifiers enabling targeted advertising and data analysis.
• If consent is refused: No identifying information is transmitted to Google. Google’s artificial intelligence will then carry out conversion modeling in order to resolve the unknowns in the customer journey.
• Modeling preserves your performance: More accurate data is displayed in your Google Analytics account. Campaign reporting and optimization are improved. 

This simple precaution is strategic, because on average this consent mode recovers 65% of the journeys between the moment the user clicks on the ad and the conversion lost due to refusal when requesting consent.

In addition, Google’s consent mode is a dynamic process. In other words, tracking is constantly adjusted based on your target’s level of consent. Following the request for consent, users can indeed allow you to collect their personal data, but they can also refuse, or even decide to withdraw consent. 

To respond to this problem, the consent mode therefore always remains flexible. Your business therefore maximizes its agility when it comes to ad personalization.