Tracking the Behavioral Targeted Ad Debate

Michael Garrity — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 22:00:00 GMT

The major advantage of online advertising is the ability to target ads to consumers based on each individual’s interests, geographic location and other personal characteristics, which ultimately makes these ads more effective for marketers and consumers alike.

However, the fact that advertisers are able to track people based on their interests and online behavior is understandably off-putting to many Web users. As a result, consumers and consumer advocacy groups have come out to demand transparency with regards to advertiser practices.

Since this push, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has gotten involved, most notably by introducing the Final Privacy Framework Report to outline guidelines as to how companies can and cannot use consumer data gathered on the Internet.

Two primary aspects of the industry’s self-regulatory commissions, the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) and the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), have both seen a significant swell of participation over the last few years. At present, the NAI boasts over 80 different companies as partners.

To opt out or not to opt out ...
The real important figures, which are outlined in a new infographic by Loeb & Loeb, have to do with how many consumers are actually opting out. In the last four years, nearly 10 million users have visited NAI’s opt-out site. That may not seem like much, but 2011 saw 5.9 million of those visitors, nearly twice as many as 2008 to 2010 combined. In that time, 1.75 million (or about 17 percent) of these visitors have opted out of cookie tracking.

In the end, this seems like it is going to be a real issue for online advertisers. One Pew survey points out that as many as 73 percent of consumers are “not OK” with search engines keeping tabs on their searches to personalize results, which is in effect the same process that marketers use to serve targeted ads. This begs the question: If the majority of Web users begin to reject behavioral tracking, how can (or should) marketers attempt to continue serving relevant ads that are as effective as their current offerings?

View the full infographic below:

QuantCast Opts for Self Regulation with the DAA

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:48:00 GMT

The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) announced that audience measurement solution Quantcast is participating its "Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising" and will offer the Advertising Option Icon (seen to the left) to its publisher base.

Publishers participating in the program can feature the Advertising Option Icon on any Web pages where data is collected. Consumers clicking the icon are sent to the Consumer Opt-Out page, a universal, opt-out mechanism available at www.aboutads.info. Starting in July, the Icon and link to Consumer Opt-Out page will be available to publishers with annual OBA revenues under $2 million and total annual revenues under $15 million.

“Consumer privacy is a top priority for Quantcast,” said Michael Blum, general counsel for Quantcast. “We’re proud to support the DAA in this effort to provide the advertising community with more effective tools for consumer notice and choice and to bring accessibility of the Self-Regulatory Program to the IAB’s Long Tail Alliance. We are making this investment because we believe it will help the DAA continue to achieve widespread adoption of the Program and establish the Icon as the universal symbol of transparency and consumer choice.”

Quantcast joins more than 100 companies actively participating in the Self-Regulatory Program including advertisers, ad agencies and ad networks; 90 more have registered for the Self-Regulatory Program and are expected to integrate the Advertising Option Icon.

'Net Features : DAA

Tracking the Behavioral Targeted Ad Debate

QuantCast Opts for Self Regulation with the DAA