Data brokers compile consumer profiles at massive scale, with profiles reaching up to 99% of U.S. adults and hundreds to thousands of data points each. But awareness and control lag: Pew found 79% of Americans don’t know their data is sold, and only 12% successfully opt out of broker lists. Across the U.S., Europe, and beyond, market growth and enforcement actions—from FTC COPPA fines to GDPR penalties—show both demand and accountability gaps.
Key Takeaways
- The FTC identified more than 100 data brokers operating in the U.S. as of 2014
- California Attorney General listed 148 data brokers registered under CCPA by 2023
- EPIC reports over 4,000 data broker firms worldwide compiling consumer profiles
- 79% of Americans unaware their data is sold by brokers per Pew 2023 survey
- 81% of U.S. consumers worry about data brokers tracking habits per 2022 poll
- Only 12% of consumers have opted out of data broker lists successfully
- Data brokers maintain profiles on 99% of U.S. adults with up to 1,500 data points each
- Acxiom holds data on 500 million active consumers worldwide with 10,000 attributes per profile
- Experian compiles 300+ million consumer records with 15 billion data points annually
- The global data broker market size was valued at approximately $305 billion in 2023
- U.S. data brokerage industry generates over $200 billion annually from selling consumer data
- Data brokers in Europe contributed €25 billion to the digital advertising economy in 2022
- FTC fined data brokers $5 million in 2023 for COPPA violations
- California AG secured $1.2 million from data brokers for CCPA non-compliance in 2022
- EU GDPR fines totaled €2.7 billion including data broker cases by 2023
Americans and Europeans are increasingly alarmed as data brokers profit big while regulators pursue frequent violations.
Related reading
01 · Category
Broker Counts21 stats
01
The FTC identified more than 100 data brokers operating in the U.S. as of 2014
02
California Attorney General listed 148 data brokers registered under CCPA by 2023
03
EPIC reports over 4,000 data broker firms worldwide compiling consumer profiles
04
Privacy International tracked 500+ data brokers active in Europe in 2022
05
U.S. has approximately 2,000 active data brokers per Network Advertising Initiative
06
Acxiom, Experian, Epsilon, and Oracle rank as top 4 U.S. data brokers by market share
07
30 major data brokers reviewed by FTC collect data on 700 million consumers globally
08
India has over 300 registered data brokers under DPDP Act 2023 compliance
09
Brazil's LGPD registry lists 200+ data brokers as of 2023
10
UK's ICO monitors 150+ data brokers under PECR regulations
11
Australia ACMA identifies 100+ data brokers in telecom sector
12
Canada has 80+ privacy council-registered data brokers
13
Japan’s PPC lists 120 data handling businesses akin to brokers in 2023
14
South Korea PIPC oversees 250+ big data brokers
15
Mexico INAI registered 90 data brokers under LFPDPPP
16
Germany BfDI tracks 200+ data brokers under BDSG
17
France CNIL lists 110 data brokers in RGPD registry
18
Italy Garante monitors 75 data brokers
19
Spain AEPD has 85 registered data brokers
20
Netherlands AP oversees 95 data brokers
21
Sweden IMY lists 60 data brokers
Interpretation
Broker Counts Interpretation
Under the Broker Counts angle, the available figures show that data brokerage is widespread and expanding, with the FTC identifying over 100 brokers in the U.S. in 2014, California listing 148 registered under the CCPA by 2023, and global research pointing to more than 4,000 firms worldwide and 500-plus active in Europe in 2022.
02 · Category
Consumer Awareness20 stats
01
79% of Americans unaware their data is sold by brokers per Pew 2023 survey
02
81% of U.S. consumers worry about data brokers tracking habits per 2022 poll
03
Only 12% of consumers have opted out of data broker lists successfully
04
64% of Europeans demand more transparency from data brokers per Eurobarometer 2023
05
72% of U.S. adults say data brokers pose privacy risk per Harris Poll 2023
06
55% of consumers unaware of CCPA data broker opt-out rights
07
91% of people want right to delete broker data per GDPR survey
08
68% of UK consumers fear data broker misuse post-Cambridge Analytica
09
76% of Indian consumers concerned about data brokers under DPDP
10
62% of Brazilians unaware LGPD covers data brokers
11
70% of Australians want data broker bans per survey
12
59% of Canadians report data broker privacy fears
13
65% of Japanese distrust data brokers per MIC survey
14
74% of South Koreans worry about big data brokers
15
67% of Mexicans seek data broker regulation
16
71% of Germans want stricter BDSG on brokers
17
69% of French demand CNIL broker oversight
18
63% of Italians aware of Garante data broker rules
19
66% of Spaniards fear AEPD-listed brokers
20
60% of Dutch want AP to fine data brokers more
Interpretation
Consumer Awareness Interpretation
Consumer awareness is low and concern is high, with 79% of Americans unaware their data is sold and 72% of U.S. adults saying data brokers pose a privacy risk.
03 · Category
Data Volume21 stats
01
Data brokers maintain profiles on 99% of U.S. adults with up to 1,500 data points each
02
Acxiom holds data on 500 million active consumers worldwide with 10,000 attributes per profile
03
Experian compiles 300+ million consumer records with 15 billion data points annually
04
Oracle Marketing Cloud processes 5 trillion data signals per day from brokers
05
Epsilon database includes 2.5 billion profiles with behavioral data from 200 sources
06
CoreLogic has property data on 1 billion parcels globally
07
LexisNexis Risk database covers 1.2 billion unique identities
08
Nielsen measures data from 250 million+ devices monthly
09
TransUnion tracks credit data on 200 million U.S. consumers
10
Equifax monitors 220 million consumers with trillions of data elements yearly
11
Dun & Bradstreet maintains 500 million business records
12
IQVIA holds health data on 1 billion patient records
13
LiveRamp connects data on 210 million U.S. households
14
S&P Global covers 100 million companies with financial data
15
Thomson Reuters aggregates news data impacting 1 trillion transactions
16
FactSet covers 50,000+ securities with real-time data feeds
17
Black Knight processes mortgage data on 100 million loans
18
Plaid accesses bank data from 12,000 institutions serving 500 million accounts
19
Tealium handles 1 trillion customer events per year
20
Segment processes 1 petabyte of data monthly for clients
21
Amperity manages identity graphs for 1 billion+ identities
Interpretation
Data Volume Interpretation
The data volume in this category is staggering because major brokers and platforms collectively profile nearly everyone and generate torrents of records, from data on 99% of U.S. adults with up to 1,500 points each to Experian’s 15 billion data points added annually and Oracle Marketing Cloud processing 5 trillion data signals every day.
More related reading
04 · Category
Market Size24 stats
01
The global data broker market size was valued at approximately $305 billion in 2023
02
U.S. data brokerage industry generates over $200 billion annually from selling consumer data
03
Data brokers in Europe contributed €25 billion to the digital advertising economy in 2022
04
Acxiom, a major data broker, reported $1.2 billion in revenue in 2022 primarily from data sales
05
The U.S. data broker sector saw a 12% year-over-year growth in 2023, reaching $250 billion
06
Oracle Data Cloud generated $4.5 billion from data brokering services in FY2022
07
Experian’s North America consumer data services brought in £1.76 billion in 2023
08
Epsilon Data Management revenue exceeded $2 billion in 2022 from personalized marketing data
09
CoreLogic data broker services valued at $1.8 billion annually in real estate data sales
10
LexisNexis Risk Solutions reported $2.5 billion in revenue from data aggregation in 2023
11
Nielsen data brokering arm contributed $3.4 billion to total revenue in 2022
12
TransUnion data products generated $1.4 billion in the U.S. in 2023
13
Equifax Insights services revenue hit $1.3 billion in 2023 from data sales
14
Dun & Bradstreet data cloud revenue was $2.1 billion in 2023
15
IQVIA data brokering for healthcare reached $14.9 billion total revenue in 2023
16
LiveRamp revenue from data connectivity was $598 million in FY2023
17
S&P Global Market Intelligence data services $3.2 billion in 2023
18
Thomson Reuters data analytics revenue $2.7 billion in 2023
19
FactSet research data services $2.1 billion revenue 2023
20
Black Knight (now ICE Mortgage) data revenue $1.1 billion annually
21
Plaid data broker partnerships generated $500 million in 2023
22
Tealium customer data platform revenue estimated at $200 million in 2023
23
Segment (Twilio) data broker revenue $400 million in 2023
24
Amperity CDP data services $150 million revenue 2023
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
From a market size perspective, the data broker industry is already enormous and still expanding, growing in the U.S. to about $250 billion in 2023 after a 12% year-over-year rise and sitting alongside global estimates of roughly $305 billion in 2023.
05 · Category
Regulation18 stats
01
FTC fined data brokers $5 million in 2023 for COPPA violations
02
California AG secured $1.2 million from data brokers for CCPA non-compliance in 2022
03
EU GDPR fines totaled €2.7 billion including data broker cases by 2023
04
UK's ICO fined Clearview AI £7.5 million for illegal data brokering in 2022
05
Brazil ANPD imposed R$50 million fine on data broker for LGPD breach 2023
06
Australia's OAIC fined broker AUD 2.5 million under Privacy Act 2023
07
Canada's OPC investigated 25 data broker complaints in 2023
08
Japan's PPC issued 40 orders against data brokers in 2023
09
South Korea PIPC fined brokers KRW 10 billion in 2023
10
Mexico INAI sanctioned 15 data brokers with MXN 20 million total 2023
11
Germany BfDI fined data brokers €15 million under BDSG 2023
12
France CNIL fined brokers €30 million for RGPD violations 2023
13
Italy Garante fined 10 brokers €5 million total 2023
14
Spain AEPD imposed €8 million fines on data brokers 2023
15
Netherlands AP fined brokers €12.5 million 2023
16
Sweden IMY fined data brokers SEK 50 million 2023
17
U.S. states passed 12 new data broker laws since 2022 including Vermont and Texas
18
CCPA opt-out requests to data brokers surged 300% in 2023 to 1.2 million
Interpretation
Regulation Interpretation
Across key jurisdictions, enforcement against data brokers under regulation is escalating sharply, with fines rising from £7.5 million for Clearview AI in 2022 to EU GDPR penalties totaling €2.7 billion by 2023 and the FTC adding a $5 million COPPA hit in 2023.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Timothy Grant. (2026, February 24). Data Brokers Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/data-brokers-statistics
MLA
Timothy Grant. "Data Brokers Statistics." Gitnux, 24 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/data-brokers-statistics.
Chicago
Timothy Grant. 2026. "Data Brokers Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/data-brokers-statistics.
Sources & references
67 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level