Why Future-Proof Consent Infrastructure Is a Competitive Advantage for Publishers
Nial Ferguson says flexible consent infrastructure helps publishers strengthen trust, improve data quality and adapt faster to regulatory and technological change.
There was a time when conversations about privacy with publishers were almost entirely driven by compliance. The question was usually, “What do we need to do?” Once the consent banner was live, attention quickly shifted elsewhere.
That isn’t how those conversations sound today.
Over the past few years, I’ve watched privacy move much closer to the commercial heart of publishing. Discussions now revolve around audience relationships, first-party data, advertising performance, and increasingly AI. Consent sits underneath all of them. Nothing meaningful happens without it.
That shift matters because the environment in which publishers operate keeps changing. Consumer expectations continue to evolve, browsers continue to restrict data collection, and regulators continue to refine their thinking. The Information Commissioner’s Office’s recent advice to the UK government on potential changes to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) is simply the latest reminder that privacy is never a finished project.
No changes have been made to the law and the current PECR rules remain in force. Even so, the consultation points to something much larger. Publishers that have invested in flexible consent infrastructure will be able to adapt as regulation evolves. Those relying on rigid implementations are far more likely to find themselves responding under pressure.
That difference is becoming increasingly commercial.
Trust has become something publishers can actually measure
Trust is one of those words that appears on almost every conference agenda. It’s discussed constantly, yet often feels difficult to quantify.
For publishers, however, trust produces something remarkably tangible. It influences whether people consent.
When readers understand why data is being collected and believe they’re being given a genuine choice, consent rates improve. That has consequences well beyond compliance. Better consent supports stronger first-party datasets, which in turn improve audience segmentation, programmatic performance, and the ability to deliver more relevant experiences.
Publishers are already seeing the benefit of years spent investing in direct audience relationships. According to Didomi’s 2026 State of Data Privacy benchmark, media organisations and publishers recorded the highest average consent rates across Europe at 82.7%. At a time when public debate often focuses on declining confidence in digital media, that statistic tells a rather different story. Audiences are still prepared to share their data when they trust the organisation asking for it.
I’ve seen this become particularly clear with “consent-or-pay” models. Many premium publishers have introduced them over the past few years, and the results demonstrate that transparency creates stronger relationships than assumptions ever could. When readers actively choose how they want to engage, the quality of that relationship changes.
The same principle applies beyond cookies. Preference management gives publishers a better understanding of how people want to hear from them, whether that’s newsletters, subscriptions or marketing communications. Someone who has actively told you what they value represents a far stronger commercial relationship than someone who simply never opted out.
Better consent creates better data, which matters even more in the AI era
Much of the discussion around AI in publishing has understandably focused on disruption. Concerns around content scraping, declining search traffic, and changing advertising models are entirely legitimate.
There’s another side to the conversation that perhaps deserves more attention.
AI depends on data, but it also exposes weaknesses in data quality more quickly than previous technologies ever did. Personalisation engines, recommendation models, and audience analytics are only ever as good as the information they’re working with.
That makes consented first-party data considerably more valuable than many publishers realise.
Publishers with a clear understanding of what they’re collecting, where consent has been given, and how data flows across their technology stack are better placed to deploy AI in practical ways. They’re working with cleaner signals. They know where those signals came from. They also know what isn’t available because consent wasn’t granted.
That level of visibility is becoming increasingly important as third-party signals are less dependable. AI may automate decision-making at remarkable speed, but it cannot compensate for poor-quality inputs.
The publishers best positioned to benefit from AI won’t necessarily be those investing the most in new tools, but the ones that have already invested in the quality and governance of the data feeding those tools.
The publishers preparing for tomorrow are treating privacy as infrastructure
The ICO’s recent advice on potential PECR reform illustrates a broader point. Regulation rarely stands still for long.
Whether future changes involve first-party advertising frameworks, additional transparency requirements or something entirely different, publishers will need to adapt. The same is true beyond the UK. Many premium publishers serve audiences across multiple markets, meaning UK privacy rules often sit alongside GDPR obligations and an expanding patchwork of US state legislation.
Then there’s platform complexity. Modern publishing businesses rarely operate solely on the web. Mobile apps, connected TV, and other digital environments all introduce their own technical considerations. Delivering a consistent consent experience across every touchpoint requires considerably more than deploying a standard cookie banner.
This is where infrastructure starts to matter.
The publishers making the strongest progress tend to view privacy in much the same way they view analytics or identity. It sits underneath everything else. That way of thinking also creates opportunities beyond compliance.
Take server-side tracking. Moving data collection away from a heavily script-based client-side approach gives publishers greater control over how consent signals move through their systems, while reducing unnecessary complexity. It also fosters confidence when discussing measurement and data governance with advertisers, who increasingly want a clearer understanding of how audience data is being collected and activated.
Privacy, performance, and transparency are becoming much more closely connected than they once appeared.
The publishers that are gaining an advantage aren’t necessarily responding faster every time regulation changes. They’ve simply built the kind of consent infrastructure that allows them to absorb those changes without constantly rebuilding the foundations underneath.
Privacy has become part of the operating model for modern publishing. It supports cleaner data, stronger audience relationships, and greater confidence across the advertising ecosystem. It also leaves publishers better prepared for whatever comes next, whether that’s another regulatory update, another shift in browser technology or another wave of AI innovation. For an industry that has spent years adapting to constant change, that kind of flexibility may prove to be one of its most valuable assets.
Nial Ferguson, Managing Director UK & Ireland at Didomi
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About: Didomi provides organizations with the data quality foundation they need to turn privacy into a competitive advantage.
Through its comprehensive platform, Didomi offers a range of privacy-preserving solutions, including consent management, first-party data orchestration, server-side tagging, and compliance monitoring. This allows large corporations to optimise the collection and activation of user data, reduce compliance risk under global privacy regulations, and build their revenue operations on data they can trust. Active in more than 55 countries and supporting over 2,800 clients across diverse sectors, including some of the world’s largest corporations, Didomi provides the infrastructure organisations need to stop settling for dead-end data.