A recent study by the Croatian Association of Digital Publishers, the first of its kind, reveals that Croatia’s digital advertising landscape closely mirrors global trends. Big tech companies hold a significant market share, controlling both advertising funds and data, approaching a state of near-monopoly. However, these same platforms are critical to local media, providing substantial revenue and readership. This new digital ecosystem is now under regulatory scrutiny, given its societal infrastructure significance. There’s a growing urgency to safeguard user rights and data, ensure fair competition, support content creators, and shoulder proportional responsibility. These developments have far-reaching implications, affecting end-users, media, and advertisers. As Meta contemplates closing Facebook in Europe, regulators and advocates for end-user rights stand firm. Concurrently, new platforms are emerging, amassing millions of users, while television – the traditional powerhouse medium – is transitioning to digital. Experts from three different fields – media, regulation, and marketing – will discuss the new rules of the game and what the emerging digital world will look like.
