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There is large cross-country variation in the development of the online advertising industry and market. This paper’s primary objective is to provide theoretical and empirical evidence demonstrating the role of the strictness of data privacy regulations on online ad spending. An empirical analysis of data for forty economies for a nine year period (2003-2011) indicated that the strictness of data privacy laws is negatively related to online ad spending. Further analyses indicate insignificant effects of the strictness of data privacy regulations on per capita ad spending across all media as well as on per capita non-online ad spending. Our findings thus suggest that strict data privacy laws influence online advertising in a way that is unique to this form of advertising.

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Aug 10th, 12:00 AM

Cross-national Heterogeneity in Online Advertising: A Panel Data Analysis of the Effect of Data Privacy Laws

There is large cross-country variation in the development of the online advertising industry and market. This paper’s primary objective is to provide theoretical and empirical evidence demonstrating the role of the strictness of data privacy regulations on online ad spending. An empirical analysis of data for forty economies for a nine year period (2003-2011) indicated that the strictness of data privacy laws is negatively related to online ad spending. Further analyses indicate insignificant effects of the strictness of data privacy regulations on per capita ad spending across all media as well as on per capita non-online ad spending. Our findings thus suggest that strict data privacy laws influence online advertising in a way that is unique to this form of advertising.