We’ll be honest, the news surprised us too.
Turns out 70% of UK consumers actively hide their data when browsing online by masking their online appearance in various ways.
Staying off the grid: Users are browsing in incognito or private mode, clearing cookie caches, or simply opting out of cookies altogether.
… And the trend is rising. 29% say they spend more time browsing privately compared to last year.
When asked what made them more privacy-conscious, they said:
- Ad tracking (42%).
- Increasing data breaches (31%).
- Being targeted by online scammers (31%).
There’s more to that part, by the way. We’re just sharing the biggest stuff.
Not fair: Exchanging data for free content used to be the norm. However, 30% now disagree with the statement.
Also, 63% believe advertisers need to find better ways to make relevant ads that don’t include data collection.
Opportunity and pain: More than half of consumers say they’d choose a brand if it never collected or used personal information for advertising.
… So moving onto cookieless alternatives and ditching data tracking methods seems to be the pathway of big ad platforms, advertisers, and consumers.
Yes, the cookie apocalypse is basically here. Time to get really creative with your advertising…
