After months of anticipation, the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) finally becomes enforceable today. It's too early to tell exactly how the law will shake out, but some industry observers say it could rattle the ad industry.
The GDPR stipulates that user data can be used only if that individual gives a company explicit permission. There are high stakes for marketers to get their data under control because companies found to be in violation of the GDPR face a fine of €20 million ($22.1 million) or 4% of global revenues (whichever is greater).
But some marketers aren’t feeling too self-assured in their abilities to comply with the new regulation. In a March 2018 survey of 201 US marketing professionals conducted by Openprise, respondents rated their GDPR compliance a 3.10 out of 5 (with 5 being best-in-class). That was the lowest rating assigned to any of the data management tasks they were asked about.