What is a CMP?

What is a Consent Management Platform (CMP)?

A Consent Management Platform (CMP) is a tool or system designed to help digital platforms manage transparency, privacy choices and consent requirements for personal data processing activities in accordance with data privacy regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) or leading industry standards such as IAB Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF).

It provides a user-friendly interface for providing necessary privacy disclosures, offering customizable choices and consent layers to obtain and manage individual’s personal information, ensuring compliance, and enhancing user trust.

For publishers who monetize their properties with advertising, compliance unlocks higher demand from advertisers, resulting in increased monetization potential.

Key Features of a CMP

• Compliance: CMPs help website and app publishers ensure compliance with privacy regulations by providing mechanisms for obtaining and recording valid user consent. This is crucial as “valid consent” establishes the fundamental basis for processing the personal information of an individual.
• Transparency: CMPs contribute to transparency by informing users about various aspects of personal data processing, including the types of data being collected, the purposes for which it will be used, and the third parties involved in the data processing. Users can access and update their consent preferences anytime through the CMP. This allows individuals to have greater control over their data and privacy settings.
• Consent Collection: CMPs facilitate the gathering of user consent for various purposes, such as data processing, analytics, and targeted advertising. Users are presented with clear and granular options to accept or reject specific data processing activities.
• Customization: CMPs offer customization features, enabling publishers to match the consent notice to their properties’ design and create a seamless user experience.
• Reporting: CMPs often include features to report on user consents and preferences. This is valuable for optimizing consent rates and demonstrating compliance with privacy regulations during audits or investigations.