5 ms·
Most adtech is RTB (real-time bidding) where ad slots are auctioned off and filled as you load the page. SO (and publishers) have no real control over the ad pa
by manigandham 7y ago
Most adtech is RTB (real-time bidding) where ad slots are auctioned off and filled as you load the page. SO (and publishers) have no real control over the ad payload that comes back. There has been progress to use sandboxed iframes but there's still JS running inside those placements.
The JS won't be going away, it's part of a long supply chain of data, verification, viewability, anti-fraud and other layers baked in. For those saying publishers should do 1st party ads, that would lose them most of their income due to operational and sales overhead and doesn't really prevent everything anyway because they still have to accept the ads advertisers want to run, including the JS from vendors.
However the situation is slowly improving. Adtech has weathered through adblocking, native ads, anti-tracking tech but has failed to police itself because of a lack of consequences. Now there's finally regulatory pressure with GDPR, CCPA, and more that will finally force a change from the outside. I expect many of these issues to be greatly reduced within the next 1-3 years.
- Analemma_ 7y ago> SO (and publishers) have no real control over the ad payload that comes back. That's not my problem, they could choose not to use those platforms. If they can't feasibly guarantee the integrity of the ads they serve, then my logical response as a user is to just block them all by default.
- manigandham 7y agoYou're also free to not visit those sites.
- alkonaut 7y ago> For those saying publishers should do first party ads, that would lose them most of their income Yes? Does that make it less likely? Less needed? No If publishers can buy targeted ads with fraud detection, they will. But when they can’t (because the idea of the auctioned third party js blob finally dies) there will be money in dumber ads. What might happen of course is that if someone wants to spend $X on ads that are dumb and untargeted they might as well buy a spot on the side of a bus. Do there would be a flow of ad money back from the web to traditional advertising.
- manigandham 7y agoAds are not going to become dumb. They're going to become privacy-compliant and more secure. Some signals will go away while others are replaced, but we're not suddenly going back to ads on the sides of buses.
- JohnFen 7y ago> They're going to become privacy-compliant I'm not so confident about this. At least, I haven't seen any serious efforts (or even proposals) from the industry in that direction.
- manigandham 7y agoTransparency and Consent Framework (now v2): https://iabeurope.eu/policy/introducing-for-public-comment-transparency-and-consent-framework-tcf-version-2-0/ https://iabeurope.eu/policy/introducing-for-public-comment-t... Privolta (our startup for 1st-party privacy-safe ads): https://www.privolta.com/ https://www.privolta.com/ There are many others. Regulation always creates opportunity.
- JohnFen 7y agoI'm aware of the TCF, but it doesn't really address what I'm talking about. I couldn't find any real information about what Privolta is doing on the website, so can't comment on that. What I have been seeing out of the industry (primarily what the IAB has been talking about and Google's "privacy sandbox") doesn't rise to the level of protecting privacy yet. Perhaps someday, but right now what it looks like is that they're seeking ways to continue an inherently privacy-invading business model while minimizing the impact of potential regulation.
- manigandham 7y agoShort summary: ID generation based on regulations and consent. Random number or cohort sample. Local data only, send and received interests matrix and ad payload while decisions happen locally. Plenty of ways to provide most targeting capabilities without revealing a particular user, until they decide to convert as a customer.
- JohnFen 7y ago> The JS won't be going away Which is why I won't be allowing JS to run anytime soon.