[Research]: What do publishers think about the impact of CCPA and other U.S. privacy laws?

A majority of publishers surveyed by Sourcepoint believe that local (79%) and global (83%) privacy regulation will impact their business, with around half feeling it will have significant impact. Four in ten respondents cite the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as the regulation likely to have the greatest impact on their business during the upcoming 12-24 months, though the same percentage had not yet prepared for CCPA.

The perceived impact of GDPR and CCPA

Looking at GDPR, for example, which was introduced over a year ago, a quarter of the publishers surveyed (27%) responded that they had yet to make any changes to their procedures as a result of the regulation.

Many respondents (61%) believe that the impending CCPA will have some impact on their business, although those companies which operate outside of the USA do not see this as likely (13%). This is not necessarily a revenue impact, however, with half (53%) of respondents not expecting to see a revenue change as a result. Of those expecting a revenue change, however, a decrease (32%) was more likely than an increase (11%). 

Will there be U.S. federal legislation?

There is a strong feeling that data privacy regulations are likely to be brought in at a federal level in the US within the next 1-2 years (58% of respondents agree). When the timeframe is lengthened to 3-5 years, three quarters (74%) of respondents agree that this is likely to happen.

A strong majority of respondents (79%) felt that federal policy would be easier to comply with than multiple state-level policies. Seven in ten (68%) agreed that federal legislation would be essential in order to improve relationships between publishers and audiences.

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