Behavioral Targeting

8 Key excerpts on "Behavioral Targeting"

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  Internet Communication

  • James W. Chesebro, David T. McMahan, Preston C. Russett(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers

    (Publisher)

  Behavioral Target Marketing While contextual marketing utilizes website content to determine advertisements, behavioral target marketing draws from user activities. This type of Internet marketing is accomplished by tracking online activity and crafting advertisements most suitable to users based on that activity. Behavioral target marketing relies heavily on cookies, which are pieces of data or files sent by websites and stored in a user’s browser. Some cookies keep track of activity during a single browsing session, while other cookies keep track of activ- ities from past sessions. First-party cookies are those specific to a website being visited. These are used to remember user preferences, passwords, and other materials, benefiting users by making their experience more personalized and easier. Without cookies, for example, form data might not be remembered within a single session, and shopping carts on a commerce site might only be able to hold one item at a time. Making things easier for users ultimately benefits sites by increasing the likeli- hood that satisfied users will return. However, sites can also use this information to study how users interact with the content and modify this content according to their goals for user activity. Of course, commerce sites also want users to place more than one item at a time in their shopping carts. 152 | Internet Communication Third-party cookies are those used in behavioral target marketing and are placed within user browsers by third-party marketers on sites that are visited. These types of cookies track such activities as which sites are visited, how long people spend on websites, and what content is used. This information is then used by companies gathering the information, or sold to other companies. Adver- tisements are then developed and presented based on analyses of this information. Ubiquity of Tracking The tracking of user activity is a common occurrence.

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  The Online Advertising Playbook

  Proven Strategies and Tested Tactics from the Advertising Research Foundation

  • Joe Plummer, Taddy Hall, Robert Barocci, Stephen D. Rappaport(Authors)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Behavioral Targeting allows advertisers to create buys from run-of-site inventory and improve the cost-effectiveness of media buys by selecting and adding lower-cost properties into the mix. The industry is responding to advertiser interest. Companies such as 24/7 Real Media, Advertising.com, Revenue Science, and Tacoda Audience 12 THE ONLINE ADVERTISING PLAYBOOK Networks now specialize in Behavioral Targeting. In the search world, search engine services, like MSN AdCenter, will offer behavioral tar- geting capability, along with other targeting techniques like daypart and demographic targeting (Smith 2006a). According to Professor Joseph Turow of the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Pennsylvania (2006), consumers he surveyed, as part of an ongoing research program by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, are aware that advertisers “have the ability” to col- lect information on their web behavior (and may use that information to show them ads) and to learn more about them by purchasing addi- tional information on them from database companies. Although con- sumers expressed several positives about Behavioral Targeting, notably seeing more relevant ads and products, their concerns run deep about advertiser integrity: Only 17% agreed with the statement “What compa- nies know about me won’t hurt me,” and 79% agreed that they are “nervous about websites having information on me” (p. 162). Beyond the privacy concerns and ethical use of their personal information, Turow points out that Behavioral Targeting’s ability to offer the same product at different prices to different consumers (usually based on their value to the company) may lead to a new form of economic dis- crimination, one perpetrated by marketers. As a data-driven and thoughtful critic, Turow’s findings and implications for behavioral tar- geting raise concerns all marketers should find time to address in order to realize the future value of Behavioral Targeting for their brands.

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  Internet Privacy Rights

  Rights to Protect Autonomy

  • Paul Bernal(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  Behavioural tracking and targeting 145 1.1 Who does behavioural tracking and targeting? Behavioural targeting in one form or other is already common on the net. Amongst others it is already used by Google, 1 Yahoo!, 2 AOL 3 and Microsoft, 4 as well as by a number of specialist advertising and marketing companies such as AudienceScience, 5 Omniture 6 and Netmining. 7 The marketing industry is highly enthusiastic about behavioural tar- geting, suggesting that not only does it work well for advertisers, 8 but that it gives customers what they want, ‘improving user experiences’ and suggesting that audiences actually welcome this kind of activity. Mark Wilmot, writing in Marketing Daily in 2009, said: Something amazing happens when marketing efforts are actually rele- vant to people. We see this step as initiating that crucial dialogue. And shoppers, for their part, are replying; essentially giving permission to marketers to learn their habits and respond accordingly. 9 What he meant by ‘essentially giving permission’ reveals a great deal about the way that the advertising industry views the issue of consent: as something that customers do automatically, implicitly, just by participat- ing in their programmes or accepting their services, without any kind of real debate or discussion. Privacy advocates take a diametrically opposite view, seeing behav- ioural targeting as a pernicious and potentially dangerous practice. 10 1 Most directly through Google AdSense. See www.google.com/adsense/static/en_US/ AfcOverview.html?sourceid=aso&subid=ww-ww-et-pubsol&medium=link. 2 See http://advertising.yahoo.com/adsolution#product=Behavioral. 3 See http://advertising.aol.com/ . 4 See http://advertising.microsoft.com/en-uk/behavioral-targeting. 5 See www.audiencescience.com/ . 6 See www.omniture.com.

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  Targeted Advertising and Consumer Privacy Concerns

  Experimental Studies in an Internet Context

  • (Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Cuvillier Verlag

    (Publisher)

  It might also derive a surfer’s location based on search terms employed or based on other sites the user visited (Mühling 2007). This form of geo targeting can be considered a form of behavior-based targeting and usually requires the use of cookies. Behavior-based targeting methods generally involve tracking technology, such as cookies or Flash cookies in order to create dynamic user profiles. Most of the recent enthusiasm with regard to online targeting refers to those behavior-based targeting methods (e.g., Hallerman 2008; Hof 2008; McDonald and Cranor 2010), because those behavior-based methods allow inferring consumers’ interests which are particularly meaningful in predicting how receptive they are to a particular advertisement (Cartwright 2009; Dwyer 2009, 2011). Behavioral Targeting is the practice of collecting information on a consumer’s web-browsing behavior to infer interests and intentions (McDonald and Cranor 2010). Mostly, cookies placed in surfers’ web browsers track their online surfing behavior in order to create profiles (Hormozi 2005; Lambrecht and Tucker 2011). Based on those profiles, a website can then exclusively display an advertisement to consumers with specific inferred interests and intentions (Chickering and Heckerman 2003; Szoka 2009). Surfer profiles can be generated within one particular website, such as an online store offering targeted product recommendations to its customers, or across several websites. Many countries prohibit the combination of personally identifiable information with browsing patterns collected covertly (see section 2.1.3). But even in countries where consumer privacy is not strictly protected by law, the vast majority of profiles are anonymous, i.e., they do not contain data that can be linked to a person’s name (Dwyer 2009, 2011).

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  Behavioural Targeting: An Online Analysis for Efficient Media Planning?

  • Alice Klever(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Diplomica Verlag

    (Publisher)

  Since the entry of search words indicates behaviour of the user, keyword targeting can be seen as a form of behavioural targeting, which will be explained and discussed in detail in the next chapter. 134 135 134 Cp. Dannenber/Wildschütz, 2006, p. 69-71 135 Cp. Hegge, 2007, p. 289 33 5. Behavioural Targeting Currently behavioural targeting (BT) is neither scientifically well-defined nor standardized, though there are several approaches defining and describing BT. The following statements should provide the background for the discussion on BT’s importance for media planning: “Behavioural Targeting (BT) is a method of advertising seeking out consumers based on where they go and what they do as indicators of what their interests are most likely to be. BT is mostly being applied in online ad targeting, where consumers’ behaviour on a relevant website is tracked to determine their interests, then ads are served to that person relevant to their interests.” 136 Forrester, a US-based technology and market research company, defines BT as follows: “Aligning ads with users whose online behaviour implies interest in a particular product or service” 137 The concept of BT is not the latest trend; it is rather a victim of the “dot-com bomb” 138 and therefore disappeared after the year 2000. It is unclear who invented BT, the US-based company ValueClick holds two patents on the general principles of behavioural targeting, listed as inventor is Thomas Gerace who filed the patent in 1990. Currently ValueClick sues Tacoda over behavioural targeting patents; Tacoda was founded in 2001 and is regarded as the pioneer in the industry. 139 BT is experiencing a comeback, which was manifested in 2007, where multi-billion dollar acquisitions took place. Google bought DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, Yahoo! bought Bluelithium for $300 million and AOL bought Tacoda for approximately the same price.

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  Ethics in Advertising

  Making the case for doing the right thing

  • Wally Snyder(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  5

  “Behavioral advertising”

  Protecting consumer privacy

  Advertisers should never compromise consumers’ personal privacy in marketing communications, and their choices as to whether to participate in providing their identity should be transparent and easily made.

  IAE Principle 6

  Ethics requires that we honor consumers’ privacy in the marketing of our products and services. The major area of concern, currently, is the practice of behavioral advertising, also called interest based advertising, where their preferences are collected—often without their knowledge—for targeting particular advertisements to them. Also, patients’ privacy needs to be protected in the marketing of drugs and medical procedures. We begin with behavioral advertising, better described as behavioral “targeting.”

  Ads are targeted to consumers via their computers according to the interests they express in online activities, such as search queries, ads they click on, information they share on social sites, products they put in online shopping carts, and comments they make in their emails. In addition “data brokers” are now collecting information from many other sources, including facial recognition technology (FRT) and other private sources, including “personally identifiable information” (PII), and putting the information together for business purposes.

  Collecting this data allows companies to direct more specific ads to consumers. This cuts down on advertising costs—and also elevates the effectiveness to consumers in getting more relevant ads. Yet, research shows that consumers fear that Behavioral Targeting infringes on their personal privacy. Also, consumers often are not aware that commercial information is being collected. A PEW research study found that 74% say it is “very important” to them that they be in control of who can get information about them; and 91% of consumers felt they were not in control of their private information. Some 86% have taken steps to mask their digital footprints, but many would like to do more.1

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  The SAGE Handbook of Human–Machine Communication

  • Andrea L. Guzman, Rhonda McEwen, Steve Jones, Andrea L. Guzman, Rhonda McEwen, Steve Jones, Editor(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  Media audiences in the digital age actively consume media content in a digitally mediated space instead of passively processing messages delivered via specific channels (Chi, 2011; Joines et al., 2003; Ko et al., 2005). Consumers’ digital interactions are recorded and tracked. Such information is used for targeting in personalized messaging. Online behavioral advertising (OBA), also as known as Behavioral Targeting (Bennett, 2010), leverages user data and generates profiles based on their habits, interests, preferences, etc. (Smit et al., 2014; van Noort et al., 2020) and provide relevant advertisements to the target audience (Ham & Nelson, 2016; McDonald & Cranor, 2010; Nill & Aalberts, 2014).

  Behavioral Targeting is achieved through programmatic media buying. Together, computing systems – ad servers, demand-side platforms (DSPs), supply-side platforms (SSPs), and data management platforms – make instantaneous decisions about where to show an ad, when, to whom, and at what cost. The multiple layers of machines behind computational (programmatic) advertising may not directly interface with media end users, but they actively determine what information people receive and how they receive it. Computational advertising brings a paradigm shift throughout the entire advertising process (Yang et al., 2017). It affects marketing analysis, campaign planning, content creation and placement, and evaluation (Araujo et al., 2020; Helberger et al., 2020; Huh & Malthous, 2020; Liu-Thompkins et al., 2020; van Noort et al., 2020; Yun et al., 2020).

  Search Engines and Search Marketing

  Search engines are a primary example of machines in HMC. Search engine marketing (SEM) promotes websites by increasing or maintaining their rankings in search engine result pages (SERPs) (Dou et al., 2010; Sen, 2005). Unlike display advertising, search-based advertising is initiated by input from the consumers instead of the advertisers. This departure is significant because it shifts the power in advertising from the media to the audience.

  Search engines not only display but also curate information in such a way that would influence a user's decisions and behavior. Such technological affordances (Sundar et al., 2015) can alter users’ evaluation of the quality of the search results. Search engines that offer relevant results were rated with greater credibility than those that provide non-relevant results as of the effect of the similarity heuristic (Kalyanaraman & Ivory, 2009). Top-ranking search results were more likely to be selected and elicit higher perceived content credibility than those lower-ranking content (Pan et al., 2007; Westerwick, 2013). Search engines themselves are also a source of information and lend credibility to the information they display.

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  Unauthorized Access

  The Crisis in Online Privacy and Security

  • Robert Sloan, Richard Warner(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  It combines these data with data from offline sources. eXelate explains, We are capturing billions of deep granular data points…We analyze [these]…and roll them into specific Targeting Segments…These categorizations include Demographic data…, consumer Interest data gathered from specific site activity…(such as parenting and auto enthusiast sites), and deep purchase Intent data culled from relevant activity on top transactional sites. We further segment and sub-segment this data into relevant buckets that in many cases drill down to the product and keyword level. 9 Practitioners of behavioral advertising sometimes insist that the infor-mation does not identify particular individuals. Based on their own claims, this is simply not true. The profiler TARGUSinfo, for example, boasts on its corporate website that “with our authoritative data and proprietary linking logic, no other company can match our ability to accurately iden-tify businesses and consumers in real time—helping you target and rec-ognize your best prospects, even at the moment of live interaction.” 10 The data include “names, addresses, landline phone numbers, mobile phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses and predictive attributes.” 11 The purpose of the profiles is to target display advertising. A business may create its own display advertising, or it may outsource that to another agency. Advertising exchanges deliver display advertisements to websites that display them. When a buyer visits a website, the exchange retargets advertisements by combining a buyer’s profile with information about the buyer’s current website activity. The exchange then conducts an auc-tion in which businesses bid for the opportunity to present their targeted advertisements. The whole process takes milliseconds. As one commen-tator aptly sums up the situation, “Advertisers bid against each other in * The creation of profiles distinguishes behavioral advertising from contextual advertising.

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