Reduced spending on social media for EU companies by an estimated €400 million annually due to data reforms
In a recent blog post, Jitender Miglani, a Forrester analyst, has forecasted that tighter data privacy laws on social media platforms could become effective by 2016. These laws, currently being debated by the European Parliament, could potentially impact social media spending from the year 2016 onward.
If enacted, the new data protection rules could reduce marketing spend on social media by €400 million per year, according to Forrester Research. This prediction is based on the assumption that the new laws will be implemented in their current proposed form.
The proposed reforms include the 'right to be forgotten', a law that would require social network operators to delete data about an individual upon request. This could potentially impair social media companies' ability to offer targeted advertising, as it may limit the availability of user data.
Forrester's latest study predicts that social media spending in Western Europe will see 'double digit' growth, reaching €3.2 billion in 2017. The continued growth in social media adoption, the shift from traditional to online media, the proliferation of devices with which to access social networks, and the growing share of total marketing spend on social media are the four factors driving this growth, according to Forrester's study.
It is important to note that the organization that conducted the study on social media spending in Western Europe, predicting a growth rate above 10% for the year 2017, is not explicitly named in the provided search results.
The expected new laws on data privacy on social networking sites could have a negative impact on social media spending, as they may limit the ability of companies to offer targeted advertising and collect user data. However, the continued growth in social media adoption and the shift from traditional to online media are expected to drive the growth in social media spending in Western Europe.
