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Zenith Optimedia
andrew reeves
Christophe Eymery
Phil Zohrab
weetchus
Tackle the cookie monster before it bites you
Here's a paper Matt wrote for the SMH October 22 2010 which provides a simple introduction to the way cookie data is being used to target advertising and which explains how this consumer data is being sold by Publishers to third party data aggregators and exchanges, a situation most people are oblivious to.
Tackle the cookie monster before it bites you
Technology is a wonderful thing, but it comes at a cost. Take one of the fastest growing areas of online advertising of recent years - the advertising networks.
Ad networks emerged as a sales channel for major publishers to dispose of unsold (remnant) ad space (impressions) ‘on the quiet’ and also to help smaller publishers – who couldn’t afford a sales force - to commercialise their audience.
By mastering the art of using the latest technology to bundle up advertising space from various websites into desired target audiences, the networks have been able to sell it on to media buying agencies for a mark up.
Most recently we’ve seen the emergence of ad exchanges – such as the Yahoo!-owned Right Media and Google’s DoubleClick - which connect publishers directly with ad buyers through an auction-based marketplace.
Both networks and exchanges use technology to match what the publisher is offering with the bidder’s desired audience, as identified by cookies which tell us what that person – or rather their browser – is doing on the internet. It takes targeting to a whole new level. For example, visiting a home electronics retailer and searching for CD players might generate an anonymous profile listing as ‘in-market for home audio equipment’, that can be sold as a target audience to an electronics retailer. But the advertiser only pays for reaching that audience.
Demand for this powerful audience targeting data has led to the emergence of specialist data exchange companies, such as BlueKai, which buys audience data from publishers, aggregates it into target audience profiles and auctions it off to ad agencies, ad networks and advertisers.
Forecasts by Jordan & Edminston Group suggest that approx 30 per cent of online display advertising in the US will use such audience data by the end of 2011. Australia is currently lagging the US in presence of ad and data exchanges, but data exchanges are already providing Australian data from and to local ad networks.
What’s more, the expansion of digital display advertising across mobile, tablets and IPTV platforms, will open up further opportunities to use such data for greater targeting in coming years.
Australian privacy laws currently control the use of personally identifiable data such as names and addresses, but cookies are not personally identifiable so are not addressed by this legislation. That has left the industry to self-regulate its use of cookie data.
Publishers normally provide an explanation of how they will use cookie data gathered on their sites, within their site privacy policies, but these policies are often ambiguous. Moreover, consumers aren’t seeking them out. When was the last time you read the full terms and conditions or privacy policy of a site you visited?
Given economic pressures it is likely that many if not most will at some point sell their anonymous audience data to third parties. More worrying is evidence from the US of publishers including Facebook caught selling identifiable data. Only this week the Wall Street Journal found that the makers of apps used on Facebook are passing on identifiable data to advertisers, without consumer permission.
It is undeniable that audience data is important. By enabling the delivery of more relevant advertising, it helps publishers commercialise their content, so consumers can continue to access it for free.
However, we can’t ignore the looming backlash if we fail to inform consumers about how their data is being collected and used, albeit anonymously. In the US media associations recently launched a consumer education program including the promotion of overt opt-out mechanisms. Perhaps it’s time the Australian industry followed suit.
Australia needs to get out of the digital dark ages
There is going to be a paradigm shift in the way content is distributed. It is not "in the future", it is now.
Consider this:
- An estimated 30% of xBox 360 users are downloading games from xBox live instead of buying physical media
- Steam, which has an estimated 70% share of the digital distribution market for video games, hits 30 million user accounts
- There is an ongoing battle for the digital living room with IPTV services offered by Google, Apple and Microsoft.
In order to stay relevant on a global socioeconomic scale, Australia needs to get out of the digital dark ages with high speed fibre optic internet.
Yesterday.
The Androids are taking over
ZO Australia secures 2 finalists at Digital Media Asia awards
Happy to announce that we've managed to secure two finalists in the Digital Media Asia awards, from thousands of entries.
Search category - Qantas
Social Media Category - Lion Nathan 5 Seeds
This is great news on the back of our recent wins at US Mixx (Silver - Branded Content) and IAB Australia (Best in Show, Branded Content) both for Lion Nathan's Six Beers of Separationcampaign.
IAB MIXX Conference Notes, Learnings and Implications
I was fortunate enough to attend the IAB MIXX awards and event in NYC a couple of weeks back. I heard a range of great views on the digital ad market from notable thinkers like Seth Godin, to celebrity media personalities Tyra Banks, and even ad agency bosses Chuck Porter.
I was left with a sense of the future being bright for digital, a handle on key consumer trends, and an overwhelming sense that media and creative need to work harder and closer together to do what we do better. Oh and a killer data roaming charge courtesy of Optus for all the pithy tweeting #MIXXHere is a short presentation I prepared on some of the key points and highlights.Feel free to share, comment on this.