The value of the UK advertising market is the largest in Europe(1) and is growing, with digital marketing spend in the UK projected to rise from £32 billion in 2024 to £44 billion in 2028 according to research by PWC(2). Despite its clear commercial importance, for years digital marketing was an area of regulatory uncertainty. Long promised reforms to the e-marketing rules repeatedly stalled with the iterations of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill in the UK, and the EU’s failure to progress the e-Privacy Regulation.

Equally, early regulatory efforts to examine adtech practices in the UK did not develop into concrete guidance, with a 2020 ICO consultation on a statutory direct marketing code of practice resulting in piecemeal guidance updates, but no final code. While the ICO routinely enforced some breaches of the marketing rules (as discussed in our previous article(3)), other areas, such as cookies, were not a focus. Instead, the ICO stated previously that(4): “[c]ookie compliance will be an increasing regulatory priority for the ICO in the future”. And that time is now.