Today, Rep. Ed Markey and Rep. Joe Barton sent a letter to the CEO of Charter Cable. They have acted quickly to help protect the privacy of Internet users and, in this case, Charter’s customers. Preventing ISPs from monitoring our online behaviors is important to fight for. More will be coming.
Month: May 2008
Yahoo/WPP Alliance=More Data Collection via Targeting and Privacy Concerns
Regulators will need to examine the privacy implications of the new Yahoo and WPP alliance. When the display ad leader–Yahoo--links up with the global ad agency holding company powerhouse–WPP--data collection issues must come to the fore. Under the deal, explains Reuters, “WPP advertising agencies would, through its 24/7 Real Media arm, develop a proprietary advertising media trading platform that takes advantage of Yahoo’s Right Media exchange.” WPP’s “brands” include Ogilvy, Cheskin, Dentsu Y&R and many, many others.
WPP’s 24/7 says the following about its “comprehensive” targeting:
“Whoever you want to reach, we have targeting down to a science.
- Behavioural. We can serve ads based on your customer’s browsing behaviour.
- Demographic. We can target campaigns based on a number of demographic criteria such as race, age, income, sex, employment, education, and home ownership.
- Technographic. We can target based on browser, browser version, bandwith or operating system.
- Retargeting. We can flag visitors to a site based on what they did on their last visit, and then “retarget them†when they return.
- Geo-dem. We can overlay geographic data such as country, state or zip code with demographic information.
- Daypart. You can tell us what hour of the day or day of the week that you’d like an ad to be viewed.
- Content. You can choose specific sites, sections or positions on a page for ad placement.
- Keyword/search. We can serve ads based on specific words that are entered into a search engine by your customer.
- Custom. We can develop a comprehensive targeting strategy that is customised for whatever your marketing goal may be.”
Mind over our data: It was 24/7 that just announced it was also using “psychographic targeting through a partnership with Mindset Media…[that] will enable brand advertisers to target consumers with specific personality traits that drive buyer behavior and brand affinity across a broad range of consumer goods and services.”
From MediaPost’s coverage (excerpt):Â “ The multi-year deal will pair Yahoo’s Right Media ad exchange with the targeting prowess of WPP’s 24/7 Real Media, giving WPP agencies a more effective system for buying mass quantities of display inventory worldwide… WPP’s GroupM…will be able to access the platform directly through 24/7 Real Media and plug in various targeting options-… Ryan Jamboretz, director of corporate development at GroupM…said “[T]his only improves the product by allowing us to do things like behavioral and retargeting on a larger scale.”
source: Yahoo, WPP Partner to Buy, Sell Rich Media More Effectively.  Tameka Kee. Online Media Daily. May 15,2008.
Verizon Research: Mobile Banner Ads work as well as TV spots producing brand recall
As part of our work covering mobile marketing, we will post relevant information to foster discussion and debate. Mobile communications will bring a profound change in how we live our lives. How we engage with our communities and social networks, let alone with brands and ads, will be greatly influence by mobile technologies. We need to try and create the mobile media “ecosystem” in a way which strengthens democracy, protects privacy, encourages innovation and fosters commercial growth. Here’s an excerpt from Online Media Daily:
“On average, small banner ads on mobile devices produce the same level of brand recall as the typical 30-second TV spot, according to Stephanie Bauer Marshall, the mobile advertising leader for Verizon Wireless… “The banner ads work really well, and that’s where you have the greatest reach”…they were on par with TV spots in terms of brand recall….Mobile banner ads also produce click-through rates that are “exponentially higher than online” banner ads…Verizon has commissioned brand recall studies…”
Mobile Banner Ads Have Same Brand Recall As TV Spots. Eris Sass. OnlIne Media Daily. May 15, 2008 [reg required and well worth it]
Charter Cable to Spy on its Broadband Users to Serve Targeted Ads via NebuAd
We have long pointed out that deep-packed inspection can be used by ISPs to both eavesdrop on users and undermine the neutrality of the Internet. Via Wired and other sources we learn that “Charter Communications, one of the nation’s largest ISPs, plans to begin eavesdropping on the web surfing of its customers, in order to help web advertisers deliver targeted ads. In letters being sent to some of its 2.7 million high-speed internet customers, Charter is billing its new web tracking program as an “enhancement†for customers’ web surfing experience. The letters were first reported by a BroadbandReports.com user on Sunday. The pilot program is set to begin next month.â€Charter, using language straight out of Orwell’s 1984, claims it’s offering an “enhanced†service. Demonstrating its monopoly clout, Charter is imposing this service on an opt-out basis. Charter will be using, notes Wired, NebuAd. Here’s what NebuAd says it does (our emphasis): “NebuAd delivers the most actionable consumer intelligence by extending its reach dynamically to encompass the ever-growing network of sites that consumers visit. NebuAd combines this web-wide view of pages navigated, searches performed, ads clicked, etc., with the industry’s most accurate targeting capabilities, matching consumer interests across more than 1,000 categories…The result is behavioral advertising on a vast scale with a level of relevance that drives significantly improved response and engagement rates across all categories of advertisements.â€
Here’s what NebuAd told Behavioral Insider magazine last November (excerpt, our emphasis): “The kind of data we do aggregate includes Web search terms, page views, page and ad clicks, time spent on specific sites, zip code, browser info and connection speed…within this vast universe of information we create a map of interest categories, beginning with the widest definitions, auto, finance, education, what have you. But within those we can provide far greater granularity. So if you’re talking about auto, we can drill down into particular interest segments, say SUVs, luxury cars, minivans, and then even to particular brands or models. Within the interest category of travel, we can identify consumers interested in learning about Martinique, the south of France or Las Vegas.â€â€¦â€œISPs have been a neglected aspect of online’s evolution over the past several years. But the fact is the depth of aggregated data they have to offer, anonymous data, is an untapped source of incredible power… The conventional approach to behavioral targeting has been to place cookies on specific Web sites or pages. We’ve gone about it in a very different way. We place an appliance in the ISP itself. Therefore we’re able to get a 360-degree, multidimensional view over a long period of time of all the pages users visit. So what we’re really talking about for the first time is a truly user-focused, though still anonymous, targeting, taking the totality of anonymous behaviors rather than just a subset of sites on a network.†Here’s what NebuAd said in a November 2007 release: “NebuAd’s rich insight into consumer interests surpasses any other behavioral targeting solution and enables NebuAd to deliver precisely targeted ads that drive substantially increased value per impression…NebuAd’s deep insight into anonymous consumer commercial interests across the Internet, combined with its ability to micro-target the most relevant ad placements, brings a new level of value for advertisers, publishers and ISPs:..ISPs, who have up to now facilitated but barely participated in online advertising opportunities, can open new revenue streams that complement advertiser and publisher objectives to maximize revenue and generate higher revenue-per-subscriber.â€
Both the FTC and FCC must investigate Charter’s plan (and other ISP’s permit snopping schemes. Congress needs to hold oversight hearings as well). ISPs should not be in the business of letting online marketers have access to the rich informational personal data streams of their customers. Broadband providers such as Charter get paid handsomely already by their subscribers for connectivity (and also benefit from their monopoly status to secure lucrative `bundle’ packages from consumers). Charter, which has a checkered financial history, should not be allowed to weaken the privacy rights of U.S. consumers. Paul Allen, Charter’s chairman and the co-founder of Microsoft, should do better than this.
Google’s YouTube now offers advertisers ability to do “Buzz Targeting”
excerpt from YouTube May 13, 2008 press release: “As part of our continued efforts to experiment with new ways to provide value to YouTube advertisers, today we’re announcing one such new product: buzz targeting…YouTube’s …algorithm…determines which YouTube partner videos are quickly becoming popular on the site and about to go viral. The algorithm looks at several factors, such as acceleration of views, favorites, and ratings activity, and then allows advertisers to target their ads specifically to these videos on YouTube.
“Every advertiser hopes that their campaign will to be the next big viral hit online, and they come to YouTube to reach the millions of video viewers who are on the site everyday,” said Rajaraman [Shiva Rajaraman, YouTube Product Manager]. “Buzz targeting lets them do both at the same time. They associate their brand with the hottest content of the day, while reaching the most engaged users in our community.”
and from Online Media Daily: “YouTube buzz targeting works on an algorithm that looks at a number of viewer activities, including how many times a video is chosen as a favorite, how favorably it’s rated, and how quickly it picks up views, to determine which clips are about to “go viral.” Advertisers can capitalize on the momentum by choosing to run overlay ads on these videos, with the possibility of combining buzz targeting with other options like time of day, gender and category targeting.”
source: Advertisers Get Buzzed On YouTube With New Targeting Capability. Tameka Kee. Mediapost. May 14 2008
BT Watch: Tell me, is it the cookie or You that online marketers are “packaging” for targeting
How long can they get away with the “it’s anonymous” cover story as they identify, analyze, track and target our online interests and behaviors? Excerpt from Media magazine: “behavioral segmentation refers to a media seller’s packaging of groups of cookies who have visited sites (other than the client’s own) that suggest a need or receptivity for the client’s category of product. For example, all cookies that have visited automotive-related sites over the last 60 days may be packaged as a segment of people likely to be in the market for a new car…Predictive targeting uses more than behavior data…It uses mathematical algorithms to predict what a user will most likely interact with, and then learns and is adjusted based on the actual results...It is based on cataloging what a user has done in the past.”
source: Taking Measure: Savor the Flavor. John Nardone. May 2008
Google’s Mobile Plans include Cookies for Ad Targeting
At last week’s FTC hearing on mobile marketing, we pressed several industry representatives to confirm that the data tracking, profiling and targeting system we now have online is being migrated to mobile. That’s what eventually we were able to get at least one mobile marketing panelist to confirm.
Meanwhile, we have learned that Google has made presentations to advertisers about its mobile marketing capabilities. It appears that mobile cookies are part of their targeting marketing plan. Google told advertisers that “Google provides mobile conversion tracking on phones that support cookies. Google can measure clicks, impressions and conversions for all campaigns.”
Google needs to explain to the public how its cookies and mobile ad tracking and targeting will work, including what safeguards it plans. By the way, we also think it’s interesting to place Google mobile in the context of its DoubleClick subsidiary. DoubleClick mobile “is an ad delivery system for mobile websites that delivers dynamic, interactive ads to mobile web pages based on specific criteria as determined by you. It supports a wide range of devices and boasts a full management and reporting suite. Now publishers can deploy mobile advertising with the same confidence and control as online display ads…Report on impressions, clicks, jump pages and third-party metrics…Full reporting for all dynamically displayed ads.”
Google’s Android does, it turns out, dream of electric ads via cookies.
Google & Yahoo!’s mobile businesses will require antitrust scrutiny in any deal
Among the questions we will raise with policymakers is what any alliance between Google and Yahoo! will also mean for their respective mobile search advertising businesses. Privacy is certainly a concern here, as companies such as Google migrate the user tracking and targeting model which fuels the traditional PC-focused online ad business.
Here’s what Yahoo! says in can do with its Mobile Ad Services: “Yahoo!’s Mobile Ad Services make it possible to reach your target customers wherever they are, seamlessly following them from the PC to the mobile Internet. A wide variety of ad formats, targeting options, and calls-to-action are available – as well as resources to help you put effective programs in place if you’re new to mobile advertising…
Eye-catching display ads can be targeted using the same wide array of options as traditional Web banners (e.g. context, demographics, behavioral) – and can incorporate location, which has greater importance when marketing to consumers who are ‘on the go’.”
Update [via 5/12/08 Advertising Age. sub required likely]: “Google has managed to command a lead in mobile search, though nothing like the massive share it has in the PC-based internet world. According to M:Metrics data, Google had a 38.3% share as of August 2007. (Yahoo is the next closest with 25.4%.)”
source: WiMax Could Bring Dramatic Changes, Wherever You Are. Abbey Klaassen. Ad Age. May 12, 2008
Eyebaster Tells the SEC about its business “to track Internet users and their online behavior” for profiling
Eyeblaster is a rich media online advertising technology company which filed a S-1 with the SEC last March (for an initial public offering). Here’s the section on privacy:
“Privacy concerns could lead to legislative and other limitations on our ability to collect usage data from Internet users, including limitations on our use of cookie or conversion tag technology and user profiling, which is crucial to our ability to provide our solutions and services to our customers.
Our ability to conduct targeted advertising campaigns and compile data that we use to formulate campaign strategies for our customers depends on the use of “cookies†and “conversion tags†to track Internet users and their online behavior, which allows us to build anonymous user profiles and measure an advertising campaign’s effectiveness. A cookie is a small file of information stored on a user’s computer that allows us to recognize that user’s browser when we serve advertisements. A conversion tag functions similarly to a banner advertisement, except that the conversion tag is not visible. Our conversion tags may be placed on specific pages of clients of our customers’ or prospective customers’ websites. Government authorities inside the United States concerned with the privacy of Internet users have suggested limiting or eliminating the use of cookies, conversion tags or user profiling. Bills aimed at regulating the collection and use of personal data from Internet users are currently pending in U.S. Congress and many state legislatures. Attempts to regulate spyware may be drafted in such a way as to include technology like cookies and conversion tags in the definition of spyware, thereby creating restrictions that could reduce our ability to use them. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce have conducted hearings regarding user profiling, the collection of non-personally identifiable information and online privacy.
Our foreign operations may also be adversely affected by regulatory action outside the United States. For example, the European Union has adopted a directive addressing data privacy that limits the collection, disclosure and use of information regarding European Internet users. In addition, the European Union has enacted an electronic communications directive that imposes certain restrictions on the use of cookies and conversion tags and also places restrictions on the sending of unsolicited communications. Each European Union member country was required to enact legislation to comply with the provisions of the electronic communications directive by October 31, 2003 (though not all have done so). Germany has also enacted additional laws limiting the use of user profiling, and other countries, both in and out of the European Union, may impose similar limitations…
If our ability to use cookies or conversion tags or to build user profiles were substantially restricted due to the foregoing, or for any other reason, we would have to generate and use other technology or methods that allow the gathering of user profile data in order to provide our services to our customers. This change in technology or methods could require significant reengineering time and resources, and may not be complete in time to avoid negative consequences to our business. In addition, alternative technology or methods might not be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. If the use of cookies and conversion tags are prohibited and we are not able to efficiently and cost effectively create new technology, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially adversely affected.”
Opposition to Google/Yahoo! (or other mergers) Should be Based on Principle: Digital Pawns in Play?
Yesterday, we were contacted by a reporter asking our position on the possible Google/Yahoo! search advertising deal (we are opposed to such an arrangement, on both competition and privacy grounds). When we read the story online, we learned that one of the groups sending a letter to the DoJ was the Black Leadership Forum. That raised our concern, since we know that the Black Leadership Forum has had relationships with phone and cable companies. It has also, in the past at least, worked with Issue Dynamics (a company which helps phone, cable and other interests “organize” support from not-for-profit groups. I cite Issue Dynamic’s role with the Black Leadership Forum on page 75 of my book.).
We have not read the letter to the DoJ. Nor do we know of any financial or other relationship between the Forum and any of the many interests who are fighting Google (phone and cable companies, for example, are opposed to Google’s positions on network neutrality). But we believe that all financial relationships, even from the recent past, need to be identified. I know this is Washington, where too many people “lease out,” as we say around my office. But there are important issues at stake with the new media marketplace. Reporters will need to do more to identify whether there are financial and other relationships with groups from Google, Microsoft, phone and cable, etc. But the real focus should be to examine the state of competition in the online ad market–and what it means for the future of communications in the digital democratic era.