Broadband News

Behavioural targeting may have been given a rough ride by criticisms levelled at the ill-fated Phorm platform but the technology actually already accounts for around 10% to 15% of the country’s £637m online display market.

Not only is that market share set to increase to around 20% by the end of the year, the practice is also about to become more transparent to consumers, according to Nick Stringer, Head of Regulatory Affairs at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

He has been a major force at the bureau to bring in rules which calls on advertisers and web sites to make it clearer to consumers how behavioural targeting uses web browsing history to serve more relevant adverts, where it is being used and, crucially, how people can ‘opt-out’ if they do not wish their web visits to be tracked by advertising networks.

After the IAB had come up with its good practice principles in March, Stringer was buoyed by the Digital Britain report in June which supported responsible behavioural targeting so long as it protected user privacy and was built on user trust.

“Digital Britain was very positive about behavioural targeting so that was really good,” he says.

“We worked with the industry to come up with a set of good practice principles which six major networks signed up to in March and were given six months to implement. The main point, for consumers, is giving notice on the sites where behavioural targeting is used so consumers are aware of the technology and how to opt out.”

So far the major names in behavioural targeting have signed up, namely; Google, Yahoo!, Platform A, Phorm, Wunderloop and Audience Science. The IAB has insisted that these companies issue notices on the sites they work with because people need to be informed through the sites they visit not the sites of the companies behind the technology, Stringer insists.

“It wouldn’t be any good leaving it to the companies to put up notices on their own sites because people go to the big web pages they’re familiar with, they wouldn’t think to look up Platform A,” he says.

“So those who’ve signed up to our best practice principles are having to look at the contracts they have with publishers to ensure that they will take and publish a notice from the advertising network or software company to inform web users.”

Simpler plans ahead

The IAB has already launched a consumer education site at YourOnlineChoices.co.uk and, ultimately, Stringer reveals, the IAB is working towards a central site which would work like the Telephone Preference Service. Just as consumers can visit one web page to stop ‘cold-calling’, web users would be able to block behavioural targeting cookies on a computer with a single click.

However, this will not be offered in September when the new scheme is put in practice. Instead web users will have to follow instructions to opt out separately on each browser they use on every computer in the house.

“Ideally you would just want a single site which, with one click, opts out a computer from receiving cookies on all browsers for any user on that computer,” he says.

“So it’s not going to be as user friendly as we’d like in September but it’s a major first step and it underlines the principles we’ve published in line with the country’s legal framework and guidelines from the Information Commissioner’s Office and Ofcom.”

How and where will it work?

In the meantime, as the IAB works on an easy-to-use central opt-out site, there are some obvious questions hanging over the scheme. The most pressing is that major sites usually will not admit to working with advertising networks because they are associated with selling off ‘distressed’ inventory. Admitting to working with a network would encourage advertisers to go through networks, which are cheaper, rather than going direct, which could work out more expensive.

Hence, the IAB can ask members who sign up to its good practice principles to put up notices on sites they work with but it cannot control how these are displayed or, most importantly, where. Stringer is aware that, before the September deadlines looms for the early signatories, there may be a concern the warnings will be tucked away in a privacy policy. Hence he reveals the IAB it is talking to the Association of Publishers (AOP).

“We’ve been talking to the AOP to make sure that what we’re bringing in with the best practice principles keeps publishers happy,” he says.

“So we are still talking to the AOP about putting the principles in to practice but the actual onus, the contractual obligation, is with the advertising network or software company behind the behavioural tracking.”

Ultimately Stringer believes that education and transparency are key. Once people are shown by the industry that their web browsing is being tracked anonymously and will never include sensitive medical or adult sites, then most people are content, the bureau maintains. The IAB’s belief is that people are not overly concerned by anonymous tracking because they realise web content is mostly ad-funded and so accept they will be advertised to, so they may as well see more relevant adverts based on their proven interests.