4 ms·

most of the big websites can afford to stop tracking. The problem is that smaller / weird niche websites can't , and gdpr is disproportionally hurting them.

hjanssen 8y ago
Which is a non-argument if it turns out that tracking doesnt contribute to higher ad revenue
cribbles 8y ago
Source for this claim?
- buboard 8y ago
  https://digiday.com/media/impact-gdpr-5-charts/ https://digiday.com/media/impact-gdpr-5-charts/ https://voxeu.org/article/short-run-effects-gdpr-technology-venture-investment https://voxeu.org/article/short-run-effects-gdpr-technology-...
  - vertexFarm 8y ago
    Some of this shows it's hurting smaller adtech companies (read: advertisers who aren't google, facebook, amazon) but nothing here really shows it's hurting smaller site's revenue in general. There's some speculative stuff like how investors are reacting.
detaro 8y ago
Why do weird niche websites need more tracking? I'd assume their user base is way more specific, and thus can be targeted better without needing tracking. That I visit the NYT tells you way less about my interests than that I'm reading your blog about aquarium filters.
- buboard 8y ago
  this logic (barely) works for blogs. if your game is an aquarium game, it doesn't mean that your users are only interested in aquarium cleaning products.
  - reitanqild 8y ago
    > if your game is an aquarium game, it doesn't mean that your users are only interested in aquarium cleaning products. Correct. On the other hand, the topic of the game is just one of the contexts. A trivial example: At least we can infer that the player likes to play games, so advertising for mobile games, discount gaming consoles etc might be a better match.
    - buboard 8y ago
      yeah but the category "plays games" is too broad, rivaled by "reads blogs". And after the users have seen enough of gaming ads (and not responded) they are offeered the bottom of the barrel: russian brides (true story). If we are going to go down the road of doing increasingly detailed ad customization as publishers, we will have come full circle to reinventing targeted ads by another name.
      - Tsubasachan 8y ago
        Targeted ads have always been around. Everyone targets their ads. Decide whether to put your ad in the Times or the Sun. Its the unsolicited tracking/stalking of individuals across communication networks GDPR forbids.
      - reitanqild 8y ago
        > yeah but the category "plays games" is too broad, rivaled by "reads blogs". Plays x game on y website at z time of the days however should tell you something though.
        buboard 8y ago
        the question is how it overlaps with what the advertiser wants to promote. e.g. "is looking for new jeans"
- nemothekid 8y ago
  I can only give you speculation on what I’ve seen in online video. If you are a smaller publisher, unless you get particularly active in courting advertisers (i.e. spend time going into sales), the niche advertisers will never even look at your content. The 20-something digital ad manager has no motivation to risk his job doing speculative ad spend. As a result your ads are less relevant and your inventory’s CPM drops as a result. If you are a large property, then tracking affects you less (in fact tracking might be worse for you). Large publishers already have sales and marketing teams and ad managers will just choose you because you are “safe”. If brands are moving to a world where tracking data is less and less reliable, then by default they will move to spending more money on a smaller amount of “safe” inventory
  - SiempreViernes 8y ago
    If you are a small publisher, why would your ad prices endanger any but the smallest of advertising budgets?
    - nemothekid 8y ago
      As an advertiser, you go down the tracking route and you decide to spend 1M targeting women 21-35. With tracking, you spend all on an exchange that has a ton of supply. ELLE competes with JennyBlogger. You potentially hit a ton of women across different properties. You may be advertising to women on male dominated outlets (the “promise” of digital tracking) With the direct route, an ad manager may spend that 1M on specific properties, maybe between ELLE, Vogue and InStyle. This is a bit of a simplification as most firms have separate direct and programmatic spend, but the amount of money allocated to each depends on the perceived return of each inventory type.

hjanssen 8y ago

Which is a non-argument if it turns out that tracking doesnt contribute to higher ad revenue

cribbles 8y ago

Source for this claim?

buboard 8y ago
https://digiday.com/media/impact-gdpr-5-charts/ https://digiday.com/media/impact-gdpr-5-charts/ https://voxeu.org/article/short-run-effects-gdpr-technology-venture-investment https://voxeu.org/article/short-run-effects-gdpr-technology-...
- vertexFarm 8y ago
  Some of this shows it's hurting smaller adtech companies (read: advertisers who aren't google, facebook, amazon) but nothing here really shows it's hurting smaller site's revenue in general. There's some speculative stuff like how investors are reacting.

detaro 8y ago

Why do weird niche websites need more tracking? I'd assume their user base is way more specific, and thus can be targeted better without needing tracking. That I visit the NYT tells you way less about my interests than that I'm reading your blog about aquarium filters.

buboard 8y ago
this logic (barely) works for blogs. if your game is an aquarium game, it doesn't mean that your users are only interested in aquarium cleaning products.
- reitanqild 8y ago
  > if your game is an aquarium game, it doesn't mean that your users are only interested in aquarium cleaning products. Correct. On the other hand, the topic of the game is just one of the contexts. A trivial example: At least we can infer that the player likes to play games, so advertising for mobile games, discount gaming consoles etc might be a better match.
  - buboard 8y ago
    yeah but the category "plays games" is too broad, rivaled by "reads blogs". And after the users have seen enough of gaming ads (and not responded) they are offeered the bottom of the barrel: russian brides (true story). If we are going to go down the road of doing increasingly detailed ad customization as publishers, we will have come full circle to reinventing targeted ads by another name.
    - Tsubasachan 8y ago
      Targeted ads have always been around. Everyone targets their ads. Decide whether to put your ad in the Times or the Sun. Its the unsolicited tracking/stalking of individuals across communication networks GDPR forbids.
    - reitanqild 8y ago
      > yeah but the category "plays games" is too broad, rivaled by "reads blogs". Plays x game on y website at z time of the days however should tell you something though.
      - buboard 8y ago
        the question is how it overlaps with what the advertiser wants to promote. e.g. "is looking for new jeans"
nemothekid 8y ago
I can only give you speculation on what I’ve seen in online video. If you are a smaller publisher, unless you get particularly active in courting advertisers (i.e. spend time going into sales), the niche advertisers will never even look at your content. The 20-something digital ad manager has no motivation to risk his job doing speculative ad spend. As a result your ads are less relevant and your inventory’s CPM drops as a result. If you are a large property, then tracking affects you less (in fact tracking might be worse for you). Large publishers already have sales and marketing teams and ad managers will just choose you because you are “safe”. If brands are moving to a world where tracking data is less and less reliable, then by default they will move to spending more money on a smaller amount of “safe” inventory
- SiempreViernes 8y ago
  If you are a small publisher, why would your ad prices endanger any but the smallest of advertising budgets?
  - nemothekid 8y ago
    As an advertiser, you go down the tracking route and you decide to spend 1M targeting women 21-35. With tracking, you spend all on an exchange that has a ton of supply. ELLE competes with JennyBlogger. You potentially hit a ton of women across different properties. You may be advertising to women on male dominated outlets (the “promise” of digital tracking) With the direct route, an ad manager may spend that 1M on specific properties, maybe between ELLE, Vogue and InStyle. This is a bit of a simplification as most firms have separate direct and programmatic spend, but the amount of money allocated to each depends on the perceived return of each inventory type.