We’re all used to hearing about digital footprints and the increasing importance attached to them by consumers. But today’s post puts some pretty stark numbers behind this trend.
Across GWI’s 32 markets, a mighty three quarters of adult internet users say that they have deleted cookies from their computer (about 40% within the last month and a further 35% at some point before then).
Usage of private browsing windows is similarly pronounced – around two thirds say that they’ve surfed the internet in this way at some point in time, with 46% doing it on a monthly basis.
Anti-tracking and anti-advertising tools are less widespread but still significant: 29% have used a service like AdBlock within the last month, while 18% have deployed a DoNotTrackMe-style tool.
The potential disruption this causes in terms of the online conversations taking place between consumers and brands/advertisers is fairly clear to see – and is one of the issues we explore in more detail inside The Missing Billion, our new white paper on the difficulties of tracking online audiences via passive web analytics (you can download a free copy here).
