The Data Privacy Conundrum: What Do Consumers Actually Care About?

In April of 2021 Apple implemented a new feature for iOS, App Tracking Transparency, which allows users to choose whether an app can track activity across other companies' apps and websites for the purposes of advertising or sharing with data brokers. Apple is increasingly making new updates to the feature and most recently noted that it will automatically remove link trackers from URLs sent via Message and Mail as well as from links in Safari Private Browsing to support user privacy protections and make it more difficult to identify individual users.

While Apple believes these protections are aligned with what users want from brands, these protections ultimately surface more questions – like when do consumers care about advertiser access to their personal data and how do these preferences impact advertisers ability to reach iOS users?

Connatix recently polled more than 1,000 U.S. consumers aged 18+ to better understand the type of content they want to see from advertisers. Amidst the crackdown on data privacy we uncovered a few interesting findings that break down consumer preferences related to data privacy, their purchasing behaviors and more.

When it comes to desired content, data sharing becomes less of a concern

Today’s consumers understand the importance of advertising. Viewers report that they will watch an ad 37% of the time, with 6% saying they always watch ads. Andwhen asked about if they would watch ads in order to access desired content, the rate skyrockets with the majority of viewers (84%) across all demographics noting that they would watch ads on their favorite websites to access preferred video content. Viewers accept the value exchange and are happy to watch ads in order to view the content they want.

The power of desired video content is increasingly evident when viewers are asked for more than just their time. Nearly half of respondents (49%) note that they are willing to share personal information including their age and gender identity to access desired video content, and are also more willing to provide this type of information to websites where they’ve made previous purchases (37%) or simply visited (33%). As the requested information becomes more personal, such as size of family, height, weight, and address, respondents’ willingness decreases, but doesn’t disappear entirely, with 21% to 25% of respondents still willing to disclose this information depending on the ask. Even 5% of respondents said they were willing to share their Social Security number to get access to a video.

Purchase intent is highest on iOS devices, and contextual targeting can help

Our survey results indicate that viewers with the highest purchase intent are using iOS devices, with 56% of purchases made by respondents aged 18-34 on iPhones (37% across all ages). However, in light of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency policy, many advertisers are unaware that these changes impact their ability to reach the coveted iOS audience when using traditional audience targeting. Connatix’s unique position as a code-on-page player for publishers and a premium video marketplace for advertisers enabled us to identify a lag in iOS traffic for some clients, and work together to find a solution. When leveraging Deep Contextual, advertisers can scale campaigns and reach the right audience without relying on audience data by showing more content relevant to their interests. Despite ongoing privacy challenges, video ads still remain effective at influencing consumers to take action – 75% of respondents reported making at least one purchase after watching a video ad within the last year, and to reassure advertisers that their contextual targeting strategies are valued, 47% of respondents reported that contextual targeting is preferred, with 39% report that it makes them more likely to take action.

In the end, Chris Kane, Founder of Jounce Media says it best, “Consumers are smart. They understand that access to content is never truly free, and that without a paywall they will likely need to engage with some form of advertising to access the content they want to see. But at the same time, we can’t take advantage of their willingness to consume ads. It’s important for publishers to have a balanced ad strategy that protects, rather than disrupts, the reader experience.” 

To find out more about consumer sentiment towards privacy, download the full report here.