ad targeting
Meta improves its consumer-facing tool that explains why you’re seeing that ad
Meta today announced it’s making changes to increase transparency around ads. The company says it’s updating a nearly decade-old Facebook feature “Why am I seeing this ad?” to better explain…
Google and Meta closing ads in Russia helped Putin, argues Navalny
Jailed Kremlin critic, Alexey Navalny, has hit out at adtech giants Meta and Google for shutting off advertising inside Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine which he argues has…
An interesting new study of 1,759 iOS apps before and after Apple implemented a major privacy feature last year which required developers to ask permission to track app users —…
Google has just announced the next stage of trials of its Privacy Sandbox proposal — focused on ads relevance and measurement. The Sandbox refers to an evolving — and now…
French startup lobby targets Apple with ‘privacy hypocrisy’ complaint
Apple is facing another privacy complaint in Europe: A startup lobby group, France Digitale, has asked the country’s data protection watchdog to investigate alleged breaches of EU rules. The complaint,…
Google claims almost no change in ad revenue from targeting proposals in its Privacy Sandbox — but privacy upside less clear
As Google’s Privacy Sandbox remains under scrutiny over competition concerns, the tech giant has released an update claiming experimental ad-targeting techniques it’s developing as part of the plan to depreciate…
Lotame unveils its new cookie-less tech for ad targeting
Data management company Lotame is announcing a new way for publishers and marketers to track identity that it calls Panorama ID. For years, online advertisers have relied on cookies to…
All users can now access Facebook’s tool for controlling which apps and sites can share data for ad-targeting
Facebook is making available to all users worldwide its “Off-Facebook Activity” tool, which allows users to manage and delete the data that third-party websites and apps share with Facebook. The…
Facebook finally hands over leave campaign Brexit ads
The UK parliament has provided another telling glimpse behind the curtain of Facebook’s unregulated ad platform by publishing data on scores of pro-Brexit adverts which it distributed to UK voters…
France puts Facebook on notice over WhatsApp data transfers
Facebook and WhatsApp have been issued with formal notices by France’s data protection watchdog warning that data transfers being carried out for ‘business intelligence’ purposes currently lack a legal basis…
The weight of problems being demonstrably attached to heavily used tech services has acquired such a gravitational and political pull that it’s becoming harder and harder for these businesses to…
Another privacy-related fine for Facebook in Europe: The Spanish data protection regulator has issued a €1.2M (~$1.4M) fine against the social media behemoth for a series of violations regarding its…
Verizon’s new opt-in rewards program requires users to share personal data for ad-targeting
U.S. carrier Verizon has launched a new rewards program as it pushes for more lucrative ways to eke money out of a subscriber base that’s not growing as easily as…
Facebook has denied it offers tools to advertisers to target users when they are in vulnerable emotional states.
Facebook will disable “ethnic affinity” targeting for housing, employment and credit-related ads
It may be tough to remember given all the discussion about the role that Facebook’s News Feed may have played in getting Donald Trump elected, but the company was also criticized recently…
Facebook makes its dynamic ads more friendly to brick-and-mortar retailers
Facebook just announced some new features for its dynamic ads, aimed at making the format more appealing to businesses with brick-and-mortar stores. Facebook’s dynamic ads show you different products based…
AcuityAds acquires social ad targeter 140 Proof for up to $20M
140 Proof, a company that helps advertisers target their campaigns based on social data, has been acquired by AcuityAds for up to $20 million in cash. 140 Proof co-founder and…
Facebook’s new ad tool helps target people who will actually use, not just install, mobile apps
Getting people to download apps on their phone is hard enough. Getting to use them and return is even harder. And getting valuable users who spend money in the app…
Metadata raises $2M to help advertisers target users who resemble their existing sales leads
Ad-targeting startup Metadata announced it has raised $2 million in seed funding. Co-founder and CEO Gil Allouche said the company’s technology offers an effective way for businesses that sell to other…
LinkedIn advertisers can now use their own data to improve targeting
LinkedIn advertisers are getting a new way to target their campaigns — specifically, a feature allowing them to aim Sponsored InMail and Sponsored Updates toward companies where they’re actually trying…
Drawbridge isn’t just an ad-tech company anymore. We’ve written about how the company, which is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital, has built technology to determine…
Consumer Data Startup Eyeota Lands $7M Series A For International Growth
Eyeota, an ad-targeting and consumer data startup based in Singapore, will grow its technology platform and international offices after raising a $7 million Series A. Investors include Global Brain Corporation,…
Adobe Expands Ad Platform With New Marketplace For Buying And Selling Data
Adobe is giving customers access to more data with the launch of a new offering, the Audience Marketplace. The company already offers the similarly named Audience Manager, where customers can…
Researchers Probe Online Ad-Targeting Bias
As algorithmic decision-making touches more and more aspects of our lives, questions about the underlying rules that route these bits and bytes — and ultimately determine the digital content and…
Facebook Turns On “Bandwidth Targeting” To Match Mobile Ads To Your Network Quality
Facebook today counts more users, and faster growth, outside of its home market of the U.S. than inside it, but the U.S. still accounts for nearly half of all the…
Ad Analytics And Targeting Company Dstillery Raises $24M More For Mobile Growth
Dstillery, the marketing company formerly known as Media6Degrees, is announcing that it has raised $24 million in Series C funding. This basically doubles Dstillery’s total funding. It raised a Series…
Facebook’s Ad Targeting Will Get Interest Data From Outside Websites And New Options For Opting Out
Facebook says it’s bringing more data into its interest-based ad targeting — specifically data from non-Facebook websites and mobile apps. So even if your profile doesn’t say anything about your…
Drawbridge Says It Now Supports Video In Its Cross-Device Ad Targeting
Drawbridge, the Kleiner Perkins- and Sequoia-backed startup that targets ads across devices, announced today that it has added support for video ads too. It sounds like the targeting technology remains…
Apple is working on a means by which a targeted ad delivery system could clue in to a viewer’s mood, and serve them ads appropriate to that mood according to…
Mobile advertising company Native X is announcing new targeting features that it describes as “the most precise demographic targeting technology to date.” That might sound like marketing hype, but NativeX…