Online Advertising and Privacy

As an Internet advertising agency our goal is to essentially promote our clients whilst providing a tangible return on investment. Online advertising and privacy have been at arms or so it would seem for some time now. But is this just a frenzy which has been cooked up by the media. Our industry has made great strides in introducing regulations and compliance within the behavioural targeting sector of display advertising. And whilst planning and buying advertising agencies are not usually responsible for serving ads themselves we should get behind compliance of privacy policies to give the public more confidence in our industry.  

Behavioural targeting basically uses web browsing history to profile internet users in order to serve more relevant advertisements. There is a misconception in the eyes of the public that the data collected for behavioural targeting is personally identifiable information. In actual fact in most cases this is not the case. The IAB have brought in Good Practice Principles which all companies in compliance should abide by.

According to these principles all companies collecting data from internet users for the purpose of advertising online should explain how they use the information. Many websites currently do this via a privacy policy. In response to this consumers should be given adequate information on how the data will be used and how they can opt out. The IAB has formulated these principles in conjunction with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) which is an independent data protection regulator.

In a recent survey conducted by the IAB, 85% of people said they would prefer to receive banner advertising in return for free content as opposed to paying for content in return for no advertising. The benefits of behavioural advertising are consumers receive more relevant advertising targeted to their interests. Advertisers reach their intended audience more efficiently compared to straight channel buys and publishers can continue to provide quality content to visitors for free.

Behavioural targeting is safe. If internet users want to reduce their exposure to behavioural advertising they can regularly clear their cookies and customise privacy settings on their computers.

The IAB has set up a website dedicated to educating people on how data is used for Internet advertising and their rights. It’s called Your Online Choices and does a great job of explaining how people can opt out and protect their privacy online.

For behavioural targeting to be truly accepted by the public and trusted by UK and EU regulatory bodies more promotion of how it works and its affects needs to be done. Our industry is still relatively new and further regulation is bound to come into play. Let’s make sure we support and get behind compliance which promotes our industry as professional and responsible before regulations come in which stifle progress and limit innovation.