Feb 11, 2020 - Economy

Marketers own up to their role in data privacy reckoning

Sara Fischer

Sara Fischer of Axios, Hazel Baker of Reuters Vivian Schiller of the Aspen Institute, John Battelle of Recount Media and Shiv Singh of Eargo at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) annual leadership meeting in Palm Springs. Photo credit: @baeason

Marketers that for years funneled billions of dollars into platforms using sketchy third-party data, cookies and reckless privacy practices are beginning to come to terms with a new reality.

Driving the news: Speaking at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) annual leadership meeting in Palm Springs this week, executives confessed that new privacy regulation and industry changes are forcing them to finally be on their best behavior, after years or reckless spending.

What they're saying:

"I've literally steered hundreds of millions of dollars to these platforms," Eargo CMO and industry veteran Shiv Singh told me on stage. "And at no point in that journey ... did I ask about their data policies or did I ask about what is their relationship with media or politics or consumer privacy or any of that. So my first response is that we all have a stake in this and I think at some level, we all have screwed up."
"IAB conference feels like an AA meeting where we tearfully admit our addiction to third party cookies and promise to clean up," tweeted Ari Paparo, CEO of ad tech firm Beeswax.
"We've lost thousands of jobs (in journalism) and advertisers took their money from one place and nobody said anything," said John Battelle, Co-Founder and CEO, Recount Media Inc. on stage.

Go deeper: Ad biz reckons with privacy rules

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Marketers own up to their role in data privacy reckoning

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