Current Issue Summary
June 2022 (Vol. 62, Issue 2)
What Makes Consumers Willing to Share Their Data in Addressable TV Advertising? The Influence of Personal and Situational Factors on Consumer Willingness to Disclose Information
Addressable advertising on TV “opens the door to better targeting and measurement of television advertising campaigns, but gaining access to consumer data is paramount” for its effectiveness and development, the research trio Leen De Schaepdrijver, Philippe Baecke and Koen Tackx (all three at Vlerick Business School in Ghent, Belgium) observe in this study’s introduction. As such, “companies need a better understanding of the cognitive assessment of individuals on whether to disclose information.”
Research in the late 1990s explained the willingness to disclose data by applying what became known as privacy calculus theory (Culnan and Armstrong, 1999). “Privacy calculus theory assumes that consumers make decisions about whether to share their personal information on the basis of a cognitive assessment of the balance between perceived risks and perceived benefits of information disclosure.” De Schaepdrijver, Baecke and Tackx believe theirs is the first study to apply privacy calculus in the context of addressable TV advertising.
The researchers queried 1,858 paying television customers of a European telecommunications company, seeking insights into the factors influencing consumers’ choices to share or shield their personal information.
Among the findings:
- “Personalization value has by far the strongest (positive) effect on willingness to disclose data, suggesting that this characteristic can be used to identify the people who most likely will adopt addressable advertising in an early stage.
- “Transparency and control, building privacy-enhancing features, and educating consumers about privacy policies are essential for personalization initiatives and can alleviate privacy concerns.
- “There is a difference in the types of data that people are willing to share. Demographic information is shared most easily, whereas GPS location has the largest negative effect on data disclosure.
- “Monetary benefits have the potential to convince consumers to share their information, and this effect potentially could balance out the negative effect of requesting more sensitive data types.”