Category: Behavioral Targeting

Microsoft’s Interest in Ownership Deal with Yahoo!: Another Indication about Growing Broadband Consolidation

Microsoft has helped lead the criticism about the impending (and worrisome) takeover of Doubleclick by Google. But Microsoft, of course, has always pursued a strategy of domination. It just can’t beat Google in the interactive ad market. But its alleged interested in a deal with Yahoo!–through acquisition or partnership–is another major troubling sign about consolidation and control in the emerging new media space. Federal authorities and state AG’s need to investigate what this will mean for content competition, privacy and–dare I say it–civil society.

See: “Microsoft Asks Yahoo to Reconsider Merger Talks: Report.” David Kaplan. paidcontent.org

Google Gobbling Airwaves to Expand Mobile Data Reach?

excerpt and my italics: “Google’s lobbying activities and its March move to join the Coalition for 4G in America (a consortium that joins Skype, Yahoo, satellite TV provider DirecTV, EchoStar, Intel and wireless services provider Access Spectrum) are bearing fruit. The coalition – which is widely considered to be dominated by Google – has petitioned the FCC asking for policy changes in the airwaves auction. If it has its way the auction will allow packaged bidding, a policy change that would let bidders acquire nationwide licenses…If Google does indeed go wireless, then it will control two key touch points to mobile content and apps: the network and the mobile search engine. It also will be in a prime position to dictate the mobile advertising ecosystem from end to end and not have to bother with pesky mobile operators and third-party players that demand their share of the ad revenue pie. The jury is on whether this is the plan. But if anyone can pull this off, Google can.”

from paidcontent.org

We think poor Paddy Chayefsky is continually rolling in his grave, as his prophetic vision of television—Network—increasingly appears as a tame apparition. Sybil the Soothsayer must have a serious headache after she learns that TV producer Mark Burnett (Survivor) has created a new “reality” program pegged to the upcoming Presidential election.

With Murdoch’s MySpace.com as a partner, the show called Independent will feature $1 million in prize money (which can go to “legitimate” candidates or other causes). According to USA Today, “Potential candidates will audition for the show by submitting a video. Once the contestants are chosen, they will set up MySpace profiles to serve as their campaign headquarters.” Burnett and Murdoch hope that the show “will engage younger voters in the political process.”

But what will MySpace and Fox do with all the user data it receives from viewers and users of its Independent site. Isn’t the show just another attempt at getting young people to stick their interests, bookmarks, and other personal information into the MySpace data mining operation? We think so. Besides, the campaign for president should be serious business. Murdoch, Burnett, and Fox should be spending their considerable wealth encouraging people to understand the myriad of issues besetting the nation. But, since our politics is fashioned so much like show business, the new Independent show (which doesn’t have a TV partner yet) is likely to be the first of many spin-offs. Hey, Bud.TV. Perhaps our current President can be on your Replaced by a Chimp show?

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Leading Ad Exec on Googleclick: Deal Should Raise “Privacy Concerns”

Omnicom Group is a global advertising/marketing powerhouse, controlling such well known “brands” as BBDO, DDB and TBWA. They represent PepsiCo, P&G, Apple, Fedex, McDonald’s, etc. etc. They know the business. Here’s what Omnicom’s president John D. Wren said yesterday about Google’s Doubleclick deal, in a story written by Reuters (my bold and italics):
“What it’s going to raise – and this will be a very good conversation in the marketplace – are privacy concerns. The technology that exists far exceeds the laws and thinking of the people that are going to be impacted by it,” he told investors on a conference call. Wren welcomed what he said would be a healthy debate that will ultimately clarify privacy laws when it comes to consumer information on the Internet.

“I’m encouraged by the deal, because I’m most encouraged by the discussion that the deal is going to cause the marketplace to have. Any definition will be positive for us.”

In other words, even the ad industry recognizes that the powerful and intrusive tools they have developed require safeguards, rules, policies, limits. For both privacy and the interactive ad market.

Red Herring: “DoubleClick’s cookie cache is a treasure trove for Google”

excerpt: “Without a doubt, DoubleClick’s historical data is very valuable,” says Jupiter Research analyst Emily Riley. “Every time you’re online, every page visit, and every ad you see comes with the possibility that a cookie is placed on your machine. DoubleClick has all the data.”

How much data? Ms. Riley’s back-of-the-envelope calculation puts it into the fifteen figures: with more than 100 million web users viewing a quarter million pages a year, it hits the 2.6 quadrillion mark—and that’s just U.S. users. If DoubleClick’s ad network touched even half of those interactions, it amounts to the kind of database advertisers would drool over. “What it does is complete the picture for Google about what’s happening on publishers’ web sites,” Ms. Riley says.

From: “Crunching the Cookie.” Sean Wolfe. Red Herring. April 19, 2007

No More Doubletalk from Doubleclick. A Public Challenge

Doubleclick is claiming it doesn’t really know anything about us, and that its data is controlled by its clients.

Let’s get to the truth. Doubleclick should immediately make public the entire range of data, including behavioral and profiling information, that it now holds on its own (versus what it claims is owned by clients). This should include what it collects from DART and every other product available in the U.S. and abroad. Doubleclick should also fully disclose its complete data-related plans for its new Media Exchange. Let’s find out what information about all of us is available to Doubleclick from its servers. Doubleclick should turn over this information to the FTC, the European Commission and an independent panel of academic computer experts who have no affiliation with the online ad industry. Ask the panel and the FTC/EC to conduct an intensive review of its data holdings and capabilities from a personal privacy perspective. Arrange for these experts to conduct inspections at the Doubleclick Technology Group’s facilities in “New York, Colorado, Chicago, San Francisco and Europe.” Make all of the findings public as soon as possible.

This is something Google should insist on, as part of its own public interest due diligence.

Doubleclick’s Data “Boomerang”–Behavioral Targeting Power

excerpt from “Boomerang for Advertisers and Agencies”–“You are in a continual search for that desirable, yet elusive audience: the interested consumer. Boomerang, DoubleClick’s one-to-one targeting solution, empowers you to identify and re-target across your media buy customized segments of prospects and customers based on actions they’ve taken on your site and other marketing messages they’ve received. The result is a dramatic increase in customer acquisition, conversion, and retention metrics.

“Leverage the Power of Behavioral Targeting
Behavioral targeting is the most effective form of targeting available. It allows you to re-target to the most desirable audience of all: browsers who have already shown an interest in your product or service. With Boomerang, you can now engage that audience in a dialogue, providing timely and relevant messages triggered by their online actions. Boomerang delivers true behavior-driven advertising, so you can reach pre-qualified prospects and customers quickly and easily…

Use Boomerang to Get Better Results
Smart marketers have used Boomerang to:
• Re-target customers who have already browsed their site to bring them back
• Re-target site visitors that have “dropped off” of the purchase process with a related message to drive them back to the site
• Upsell and cross-sell customers that have already purchased core products
• Reach customers who have not visited or purchased recently to reactivate them
• Show specific advertising messages based on expressed interests, such as delivering an ad for a new car model to a browser that downloaded a brochure on last year’s model
• Test different offers and price points to determine the most effective for converting browsers into buyers”

product overview available via here:[pdf to download]

From a Doubleclick job announcement for “senior statistician” (excerpt): “DoubleClick is an application service provider, handling a staggering 12 billion transactions per day, and managing up to 160,000 hits per second on its global network. Our suite of products is driven by the DoubleClick Technology Group (DTG), comprised of over 300 IT professionals, located in New York, Colorado, Chicago, San Francisco and Europe.”

and an excerpt from: “Schmidt Defends DoubleClick Buy, Net Neutrality.” WebProNews
Schmidt said DoubleClick’s ad technology was what made the company attractive. “Advertising is really about relevance,” he [Google’s Eric Schmidt] said. It’s really about efficiency; it’s really about measurability. There’s not been a lot of technology applied to advertising over the past 10 or 20 years except for a few companies, DoubleClick being one of them.”

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excerpts from product overview of Doubleclick’s Dart Motif:


“audience interaction metrics: Motif’s exclusive Audience Interaction Metrics Package lets you gather data on more than 100 unique interactions in every creative unit including multiple exit links, counters, timers and video metrics. You’ll automatically get metrics on how long each ad was displayed or how the viewer interacted with the ad. Plus, you can customize additional events to track based on your creative concept….
* Ad Interaction Time: Tracks the average amount of time a user interacts with your ad, so you know what works best.
* Interactive Impressions: Shows how many Motif ad impressions generated user interaction for better understanding of audience response.
* Ad Display Time: Tracks the average amount of time each Motif ad is displayed to help measure brand exposure and optimize site placements.

track more than 100 metrics

* Exit Links: Let you track multiple click-throughs within a single rich media ad. Essential for when you’re promoting more than one offer in an ad. Motif makes tracking multiple exit links easy and eliminates click commands.
* Event Counters: See exactly what your audience is interacting with by tracking customizable events like rollovers, mouse-overs and drags.
* Timer Events: See how much time a user spent viewing or interacting with specific elements in your ad, like an interactive game or video.
* Motif Streaming Video Metrics: Motif provides the same in-depth reports for your video ads as it does for other rich media features. You can track audience video plays, completions, pauses, stops, restarts, mutes, average view time, and custom video interaction metrics.”

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FTC Filing today on GoogleClick First in a Series of Steps

Today, the Center for Digital Democracy joins with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) in a complaint to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission about new threats to privacy arising from the proposed takeover of Doubleclick by Google. A copy of the filing can be be found here.

It is critical that both U.S. and E.U. antitrust authorities investigate the impact of this deal on the growing consolidated online advertising marketplace. My group and allies are working on the competition and market structure issues, in addition to concerns about privacy (in the case of the online advertising market, of course, issues related to personal privacy are almost totally intertwined).

The merger between Google and Doubleclick, along with other interactive ad industry consolidation, has greater implications beyond concerns over advertising competition and privacy. Whomever controls the online ad market will determine the range and diversity of content creation and distribution online (through their ability to invest in content sources and services). Antitrust regulators must intervene to protect civil society, including ensuring the funding and availability of news and civic discourse for the digital realm.