<p><div class="image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5019a57069beddb14a000006-960/830px-cookiemonster.jpg"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5019a57069beddb14a000006-562-422/830px-cookiemonster.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="cookie monster" width="480" /></a><p class="source">Sesame Street</p></div></div><keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> is working on an alternative <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/09/17/google-cookies-advertising/2823183/">ad tracking system that could replace cookies</a>, according to USA Today. The new system is called "<keyword id="1871904" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="AdID">AdID</keyword>," and it would offer certain privacy and security enhancements over the cookie.</p>
<p><keyword id="118638" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cookies">Cookies</keyword> are little bits of code that advertisers and web sites drop into your browser as you surf the web. They track your web history, which advertisers use as a guide to your potential shopping interests.</p>
<p>Google has been slowly losing a war over the use of third-party cookies to track users on behalf of advertisers. You can see how gritty that was has become in this <a href="http://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/mozilla-opens-up-on-cookie-blocking-methods-ad-targeting/">interview with executives from Mozilla, which makes Firefox</a>.</p>
<p>Competing companies have lined up against cookies: Microsoft has made "do not track" the default setting in its Internet Explorer browsers. Apple's Safari browser blocks third-party cookies altogether. New versions of Firefox will block them, too. Part of the problem is that browser makers have very little financial incentive to maintain a robust cookie environment, and a much bigger financial incentive to make browsers that people love and trust.</p>
<p>Google's Chrome browser stands alone in allowing all cookies as the default setting. Chrome is now the most popular browser, but it easy to switch tracking off.</p>
<p>AdID would allow Google to abandon the cookie system altogether in favor of something that advertisers prefer, and thus skirt the cookie war.</p>
<p>If Google could prove that AdID was more useful for advertisers and more private for users than cookies, it could start a gold rush (in Google's favor) to use AdID.</p>
<p>It would also put Google's AdID in competition with Apple's cookie-substitute, the "identifier for advertisers" (<keyword id="1026763" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="IDFA">IDFA</keyword> or <keyword id="126876" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="IFA">IFA</keyword>). That cookie alternative is the default tracker on Apple's mobile devices running the new iOS 7 operating system.</p>

Google Is Losing The War Over Cookies And May Ditch Them In Favor Of A New User-Tracking Device

New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan assured the Lok Sabha that the Central government is not just waiting for "act of God" in fight against Covid-19 but also working round-the-clock in the direction to get solution and a vaccine will be available in the beginning of the next year anytime.<br /><br />The Minister's assurance came on Monday when he was speaking in the lower House in a late night discussion of the passage of the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which seeks amendment to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and will replace the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) ordinance, 2020 which was promulgated by the President on April 22.<br /><br />Harsh Vardhan's response came in a reply to a Member of Parliament who alleged that the government is waiting for the act of God in fight against the disease which on Monday inched closer to 55 lakh-mark in India with a total of 54,87,580 cases in 235 days since the first case was reported on January 30.<br /><br />In his over half-an hour address, Harsh Vardhan lauded the effort of various corona warriors, as he said, "We are fighting this war with the help of lakhs of corona warriors".<br /><br />Pressing the Bill for its passage in order to provide protection to healthcare service personnel, their living premises as well as their workplaces against any violence during the course of a pandemic, the Minister mentioned how the health workers were attacked in many incidents while their service to the infected Covid patients.<br /><br />As the Parliament was not in session, the Minister said the government came with an ordinance to protect such attacks on corona warriors, and mentioned that the act is to empower the state governments.<br /><br />"If any person attacks a corona warrior he will be penalised as per the legal provisions. A special officer will investigate the case and submit a report within a month," the Minister said. <br /><br />Fight against corona is a battle of 135 crore people, said Harsh Vardhan, adiding all governments fought with the disease unitedly. He also urged Members of Parliament (MPs) not to have any kind of discrepancies on the issue and support in passing the Bill, which was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Saturday.<br /><br />The Bill seeks to bring a law that punishes those who attack health workers or doctors who are fighting the coronavirus outbreak or during any situation similar to the current Covid-19 pandemic. The draft legislation provides for up to five years in jail for those who attack doctors and health care personnel.<br /><br />Penalty ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2,00,000 can be slapped on any individual who is involved in commission or abetment of such acts of violence. It can also be punishable in the form of an imprisonment for a term of three months to five years.<br /><br />--IANS<br /><br />rak/rt

Not believing in act of God, Covid vaccine expected in early 2021: Harsh Vardhan

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Getty Images/Justin Sullivan" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5247013769bedd363d5c425d-960/larry-page-46.jpg"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5247013769bedd363d5c425d-1200-924/larry-page-46.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="larry Page" width="480" /></a><p class="source">Getty Images/Justin Sullivan</p></div><p></p></div><keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword>'s plan to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-may-ditch-cookies-for-adid-2013-9">replace cookies with a new tracking device called AdID</a> is, in some respects, a giant "screw you!" to Microsoft, Facebook and Apple.</p>
<p>Pretty much all aspects of the internet (except for <keyword id="6354485" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="mobile">mobile</keyword> apps) are largely based on <keyword id="118638" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cookies">cookies</keyword> and the data they generate.</p>
<p>For Google - as the web's single largest player - to even suggest that it may abandon them is akin to having your dinner partner suddenly stand up, grab the tablecloth, and fling all the food and plates out of the window.</p>
<p>Cookies are the little bits of software code that web sites use to track your internet surfing. They help sites know whether you're logged in or logged out, and advertisers use them to target you with ads. Critics dislike them because they reduce privacy on the web (even though your data within them is anonymous), but without them the web doesn't work very well.</p>
<p>Google has been losing the war over cookies for a while now. Microsoft has made "do not track" the default setting in its Internet Explorer browsers. Apple's Safari browser blocks third-party cookies altogether. New versions of Firefox will block them, too. Google's Chrome browser stands alone in allowing all cookies as the default setting. Chrome is now the most popular browser, but it is easy to switch tracking off.</p>
<p>Rather than continue fighting that rearguard action, Google seems to be saying, "Hey, let's just start a whole new war over here, around this device called AdID."</p>
<p>Huge sums of money are at stake. Google earns billions from mobile advertising for instance, but cookies don't exist inside many mobile environments or indeed anywhere inside Apple's iOS devices, iPhone and iPad.</p>
<p>Facebook, similarly, has its own login that it can track because people rarely log out of Facebook when they leave to go elsewhere on the web. Facebook gets $6 billion in ad revenue annually - that's needle-moving money that might have been spent on Google if Facebook did not exist.</p>
<p>Advertisers like to be able to compare apples to apples in terms of ad data, so they can see which campaigns performed best. Cookies used to give them that level of comparability. But it's difficult to compare results of a Facebook ad campaign with results of a web-based cookie targeting campaign, because the two campaigns are being targeted off two different types of data. (That's one reason why Facebook launched FBX, its cookie-based ad exchange, and bought Microsoft's cookie-based Atlas ad server - so advertisers can compare results on and off Facebook.)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-switch-off-idfa-iphone-tracking-in-ios-7-2013-6#ixzz2fFdqhpZl">Apple tracks its mobile users with a device called IFA or IDFA</a>.</p>
<p>And Microsoft has largely exited the ad business, which is why its browsers now signal that users do not want to be tracked.</p>
<p>Google is running out of room on the internet, in other words. Facebook and Apple offer their own non-cookie alternatives.  Google's visibility into those ecosystems is being reduced.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="BII" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/512526fbecad04af1700000f-960/bii_global%20computing%20platform%20market%20share.png"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/512526fbecad04af1700000f-1200-924/bii_global%20computing%20platform%20market%20share.png" border="0" alt="BII_Global computing platform market share" width="480" /></a><p class="source">BII</p></div><p></p></div>"Running out of room on the internet" is, of course, a relative term. As this chart shows, Google's cookie-rich Android environment is taking significant share. Microsoft's Windows ecosystem runs on cookies too.</p>
<p>But Google is likely looking 10 years down the road. It's thinking, "How can we box in Facebook, Microsoft and Apple, so that we're not excluded from systems for ad targeting that they control?"</p>
<p>Getting everyone - i.e. advertisers - on board with AdID will likely be the answer.</p>
<p>If Google can prove to advertisers that AdID should be the new internet-wide standard, then it could own a monopoly on ad-tracking data.</p>
<p>Here's <a href="http://www.adexchanger.com/data-driven-thinking/what-the-google-adid-means-for-ad-tech/">Google's likely criteria</a> for AdID, from a speculative but enormously enlightening column by Ari Paparo, an  svp/media products for Bazaarvoice, and a former AppNexus, Google and DoubleClick exec:</p>
<ul>
<li>Take advantage of first-party identity through the Google login (Android, Gmail, etc), while obfuscating the ID [for privacy] so it couldn't be traced back to an individual's phone or mail account;    </li>
<li>Cover as close to 100% of users as possible on any device;    </li>
<li>Support cross-device persistence;    </li>
<li>Support a persistent opt-out;    </li>
<li>Avoid the problems with cookie deletion, where IDs get reset all the time and opt-outs get deleted as well.</li>
</ul>
<p>That's a 100% tracking system blanketing the entire internet, in other words. And if advertisers get on board with Google's plan, smaller competing business - Facebook and Apple, in terms of advertising - may be forced to support AdID. And that could give Google an unbelievable monopoly on the web's tracking data, according to Paparo:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Various clients reliant on the AdID will not be able to share data without going through a Google system or translating the IDs into a common domain, adding a ton of friction.</p>
<p>Another word for "friction" here is profit. if Google can create an ad-tracker that covers the entire Android-Windows-Web environment, and its data is so powerful that advertisers will balk at media that don't use it, then we may indeed be looking at a future in which you can't do business on the internet "without going through a Google system."</p>

How Google's New Web Tracking Plan Could Give It A Monopoly Over Facebook And Apple

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Nrkbeta" title_caption="Google's Nikesh Arora" class="zoomin" href="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/52701c96ecad043a2a8b4570-960/nikesh-arora-by-nrkbeta.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/52701c96ecad043a2a8b4570-890-667/nikesh-arora-by-nrkbeta.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="nikesh arora by nrkbeta" width="480" /></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nrkbeta/3046625684/sizes/o/in/photostream/">Nrkbeta</a></span></p><p class="caption">Google's Nikesh Arora</p></div><p></p></div>On Google's Q4 earnings call yesterday, chief business officer Nikesh Arora was asked a question about "cookies," which digital privacy advocates will examine very, very closely. Google is known to be working on a plan to replace cookies - but little is known about how far along that plan is.</p>
<p>Cookies are the little bits of tracking software that record your internet browsing activity, and make that data available to advertisers who want to target you. The data is anonymous and delivered in aggregate, but privacy advocates don't like cookies because they track what individual users are looking at.</p>
<p>The suspicion is that Google wants to replace cookies with a system that will give it - as the world's largest supplier of digital advertising - <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-plan-for-adid-could-create-a-monopoly-on-tracking-data-2013-9#ixzz2rcRdJxWf">a virtual monopoly over ad data</a>. And Google isn't likely to create a system that delivers less data about what people are doing on the internet.</p>
<p>So privacy advocates ought to be on alert. Because the tracking devices that will replace cookies are going to be much more effective than cookies ever were.</p>
<p><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/1983121-googles-management-discusses-q4-2013-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single">On the earnings call</a>, Wall Street analyst Mark May of Citigroup asked what Google was up to. Arora replied:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">... there is a lot of stuff going on in terms of how do we continue to evolve this area of technology and make sure that we give the users more control and also make sure that users have security in terms of what data gets transferred for them right and increase the transparency. So, our teams are working on this. There are some early concepts ... But I think it's too early to talk about what those precise solutions are likely to be.</p>
<p>We already have an idea of where Google is headed in terms of cookie replacement. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-new-advertising-id-is-now-live-and-tracking-new-android-phonesthis-is-what-it-looks-like-2014-1">Android phones have already been seeded with "Advertising ID,"</a> which tracks your specific device. It can be turned off or reset by the user however. AdID is an improvement on its predecessor, which tracked Android phones and <a href="http://www.futureofprivacy.org/2013/11/15/android-kitkat-update-new-privacy-features/">could only be reset by wiping the entire device</a>.</p>
<p>What makes AdID more powerful, however, is Google's push to have everyone log in, and stay logged in, to Gmail, Google Calendar, Google+, and YouTube. Android phones are great because the integration of these accounts is seamless, but combined with AdID, users are giving away a ton of detailed info to Google about what they're doing on their phones - on the web and in apps.</p>
<p>Cookies, by contrast, didn't do much in apps, are not device specific, and can be reset, deleted, or blocked at any time.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Justin Sullivan/Getty Images" title_caption="Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg" class="zoomin" href="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52ec32be6bb3f7bd6cb8333b-960/sheryl-sandberg-44.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52ec32be6bb3f7bd6cb8333b-1200-924/sheryl-sandberg-44.jpg" border="0" alt="sheryl sandberg" width="480" /></a><p class="source"><span>Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg</p></div><p></p></div>And then there is Facebook. On that company's earnings call, one analyst started talking about the "Holy Grail" of advertising:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Tom Forte - Telsey Advisory Group: On contextual advertising, this is essentially the Holy Grail for Facebook, and I think you understand this. Can you talk about where we are as far as innings on getting contextual ads?</p>
<p>That sounds innocuous, but "contextual" is basically industry jargon for ads that are targeted at you based on the "context" of what you're doing online. Cookies used to be the kings of "contextual" advertising, but the tide has turned against them as more and more users block them. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg answered the question:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">... targeting is a huge, huge issue for us, and a huge opportunity and challenge. Our goal is in a privacy safe way to get information we can about what consumers want, and then help connect marketers, so that the ad experience is great for users. We're serving relevant ads. Whether that information comes from the kind of things people like on Facebook or other websites they visit, or contextual statements they might make in their status updates, our goal is to use that information in a privacy safe way to improve the targeting of the ads on Facebook.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Facebook" title_caption="Facebook's Erik Johnson" class="zoomin" href="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52ec327f69bedd6c0db8333d-960/erik-johnson-1.jpeg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52ec327f69bedd6c0db8333d-1200-924/erik-johnson-1.jpeg" border="0" alt="Erik Johnson" width="480" /></a><p class="source"><span>Facebook</span></p><p class="caption">Facebook's Erik Johnson</p></div><p></p></div>Note that Sandberg talked about serving ads "on other websites they visit," not just Facebook. We reported back in December that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-cookie-ads-from-atlas-2013-12">Facebook is slowly gearing up to serve ads on websites other than its own</a>. "The most important thing is Facebook plus Atlas, and how we're able to focus on people and not cookies," Facebook's head of Atlas Erik Johnson told us.</p>
<p>"Facebook plus Atlas ... and not cookies" is another clue to where this is going. Atlas is Facebook's cookie-tracker. Everyone has Facebook on their phones and no one ever logs out. Few people on their computers remember to log out of Facebook. And that login tracks where you go, all over the web, especially on pages that have the Facebook "like" icon - which is to say every page on the web.</p>
<p>So in the future, you've got Google's Advertising ID plus Google logins, and Facebook's login plus its Atlas cookie-tracker. Some advertisers will doubtless want to combine or cross-pollinate all that data to really get high-level targeting. It's a powerful combo.</p>
<p>Almost certainly, the data being thrown off from those logins will be hashed - that is, anonymized - and used in bulk. Advertisers won't literally be tracking you personally. But it will feel that way.</p>
<p>The difference is that the tracking will be much more accurate, and much more personal, than it was when the web was filled only with cookies.</p>
<p>From a privacy point of view, it will make cookies look tame by comparison.</p>

Think Cookies Hurt Your Privacy? You'll Beg For Their Return Once You See What Google And Facebook Are Planning

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="Google" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5283a23eecad0494058b456c-960/google-doodle-good.png"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5283a23eecad0494058b456c-498-373/google-doodle-good.png?maxX=480" border="0" alt="Google doodle good" width="480" /></a><p class="source"><keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword></p></div><p></p></div>As we've written before, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-plans-tracking-alternative-to-cookies-2013-10">the much-discussed death of the cookie</a> could very well create a scenario where <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-plan-for-adid-could-create-a-monopoly-on-tracking-data-2013-9">a small group of internet behemoths</a> control all of the consumer data marketers need to make sure their online ads reach the right people.</p>
<p>If websites are no longer able to tag users with <keyword id="118638" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cookies">cookies</keyword> - the small bits of computer code they use to track internet surfing - the knowledge of the browsing history and consumer profiles of the people visiting their sites could rest solely with the companies whose services users are continuously logged in to.</p>
<p>This is bad news for online ad-buying companies - demand-side platforms and agency trading desks like GroupM's Xaxis - which use cookies to place bids on online <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> slots on behalf of their clients. Without cookies, they might only be able to get this data from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, or Apple.</p>
<p>It's no wonder, then, that some of the companies who rely on the cookie are beginning to get spooked by Google's plan to introduce its own universal tracking system called "AdID."</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-s-latest-role-cookie-monster-153712">an interview with Adweek</a>, Michael Greene, director of research and marketing strategy for the data management and ad targeting firm AudienceScience said that the elimination of the cookie could give Google even more control of the internet than it already has.</p>
<p>"Dependence on Google alone for user IDs would not only give Google monopoly power in display, mobile and video in addition to search, it would also give it total control of advertiser data," Greene <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-s-latest-role-cookie-monster-153712">told Adweek</a>.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, Google's stranglehold on the internet advertising business is already pretty impressive. It currently <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/statistic-explains-why-googles-stock-exploded-through-1000-a-share-2013-10">owns an 11.7% share of the entire global ad market</a>, and the company is expected by analysts to pick up another 1% of the market each year moving forward.</p>
<p>For its part, Xaxis is currently working on its own technology to identify internet users, <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-s-latest-role-cookie-monster-153712">according to Adweek's report</a>. In theory, the "statistical ID" would recognize people by their devices and other characteristics and use that combination to target ads.</p>

Adtech Execs Are Terrified That Google Will Create A New 'Monopoly' If It Abolishes Cookies

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/51549aa8eab8ea195800000b-1200-924/netflix-reed-hastings-2.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="netflix reed hastings" width="480" /><p class="source">Getty Images Latam </p></div><p></p></div>Good morning, AdLand. Here's what you need to know today:</p>
<p><strong><keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword></strong> is using display ads <a href="http://adage.com/article/digital/latin-america-s-biggest-online-advertiser-netflix/244391/">to make a push for Latin American customers</a> as the region becomes more broadband-friendly.</p>
<p>New <strong>Draftfcb </strong>CEO Carter Murray has made another high-level hire, naming Chris Shumaker as the company's chief marketing officer for North America. Shumaker was most recently chief marketing officer at Publicis USA, a position he left earlier this year.</p>
<p><strong>McDonald's </strong><a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/mcdonalds-will-join-verizon-nfl-twitter-amplify-partner-152727">will join Verizon as a sponsor</a> of Twitter's <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> partnership with the NFL.</p>
<p>Healthcare giant <strong>WellPoint </strong><a href="http://adage.com/article/cmo-interviews/wellpoint-amps-digital-eve-health-reform/244390/">has hired the digital and social media agency Rokkan</a> in advance of the Affordable Care Act going live in October. </p>
<p>AdExchanger takes a look at how <strong>Rocket Fuel's</strong> successful IPO <a href="http://www.adexchanger.com/investment/rocket-fuels-1-8-billion-valuation-how-does-it-stack-up/">stacks up against other media and advertising technology IPOs</a>.</p>
<p>Programmatic buying is still <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/programmatic-still-small-potatoes-most-agencies-152741">just a small portion</a> of agency budgets, <strong>Adweek</strong> reports.</p>
<p>With third-party cookies in decline due to privacy concerns and Google's proposed AdID alternative, <strong>Digiday</strong> says login data captured by social media sites like Facebook and Twitter <a href="http://digiday.com/publishers/is-login-data-the-new-gold/">will be increasingly crucial</a>.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The pound-for-pound best boxer in the world </span><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">Floyd Mayweather Jr. </strong><a href="http://adage.com/article/news/mayweather-open-endorsements-1-million-fight/244402/">said he would be willing to sell advertisements</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> on the back of his boxing trunks for $1 million per fight. Because I love you and I want you to be happy, </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhE6MkaIzaI">here is a video of Mayweather</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> getting his hair cut and talking trash about Oscar de la Hoya while 50 Cent hangs out with him on a Segway (warning: some foul language).</span></p>
<p><strong>Previously on Business Insider Advertising:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/carolyn-everson-on-facebook-vs-tv-audiences-2013-9">Facebook's Ad Chief: We Have More Primetime Eyeballs Than All Major TV Networks Combined</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-biggest-pasta-company-wont-include-gays-in-its-advertisements-2013-9">The World's Biggest Pasta Company Won't Include Gay Families In Its Advertisements</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/doves-real-beauy-sketches-wasnt-heavily-branded-enough-2013-9">Here's The No. 1 Thing Advertisers Get Wrong In Viral Videos Like Dove's 'Real Beauty Sketches'</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-mobile-ad-network-2013-9">Facebook Is Again Testing An External Mobile Ad Network</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hottest-pre-ipo-adtech-startups-2013-9">RANKED: The 15 Hottest Pre-IPO Adtech Startups Right Now</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-is-being-sued-for-reading-email-to-target-ads-2013-9">Google Is Being Sued For Reading Email To Target Ads</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/braintrees-hammock-filled-treehouse-office-2013-9">See Inside The Hammock-Filled Office Treehouse Of Braintree, The Startup eBay Just Bought For $800 Million</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-and-acxioms-big-data-partnership-2013-9">Facebook's Big Data Partner Knows Who You Are Even When You Use A Different Name On The Web</a></p>
</li>
</ul>

Netflix Is Making A Push For More Latin American Customers [THE BRIEF]

<p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bacf976a135a2f60a8b456a-1533/screen shot 2018-09-27 at 113813 am.png" border="0" alt="hulu handmaid's tale" data-mce-source="Hulu" /><p class="source"><span>Hulu</span></p><p class="caption">Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale"</p></div><p></p></div></div></strong></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>OTT <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> is hot for ad-tech companies vying for big budgets as marketers shift dollars from linear TV to connected TV devices.</strong></li><li><strong>But there are also a growing number of challenges that advertisers are still trying to solve like ad fraud, frequency capping, and low-quality creative.</strong></li><li><strong>Analytics firm Pixalate estimates that 19% of OTT ads are fraudulent.</strong></li><li><strong>These challenges threaten to limit the $70 billion TV industry's ability to capitalize on shifting viewing habits.</strong></li></ul><p>Ad-tech companies are scrambling to get into over-the-top advertising and chasing marketers' lucrative TV ad budgets. But OTT isn't quite ready for primetime with advertisers.</p><p>Tech companies are aggressively pushing into TV and view <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investors-are-pumping-money-into-tv-measurement-startups-2018-9">the $70 billion industry</a> as ripe for changes in using digital data to better target and measure TV ads. For example, The Trade Desk has hooked its programmatic pipes into <a href="https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/306288/the-trade-desk-is-all-in-on-ctv-ott-audience-tar.html">Hulu, Roku and Sony's Crackle </a>to sell automated ads. And Pixalate has shifted focus from sniffing out fraud on websites and apps to connected devices. All told, ad-buying firm Magna Global <a href="https://magnaglobal.com/magna-advertising-forecasts-fall-update-executive-summary/">expects OTT</a> to generate $2 billion this year, up 40% from last year.</p><p>However, a growing number of challenges - supply shortage, fraud, brand safety, limited data, a lack of production standards - threaten to limit the flow of ad dollars into streaming TV.</p><p>"We've definitely seen an increase in fraud being mentioned - either detection methods or ways of preventing than we have in years past," Eric Kirtcheff, SVP of global ad operations at Essence, told Business Insider. "There's been more light shined on the darker places of the internet, especially this quarter. There's still some work to be done."</p><p>At stake are big dollars for TV networks and publishers. Cord-cutting continues to grow and advertisers are increasingly asking for new tools to measure how effective their TV commercials are. As more viewing moves to connected TVs, <keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Media">media</keyword> companies <a href="https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/329131/hulu-to-launch-new-private-marketplace.html">like Hulu</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nbcu-will-sell-ads-in-shows-like-this-is-us-using-software-2017-9">NBCUniversal  </a>are increasingly selling ads programatically.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scammers-attacks-connected-tv-and-ott-devices-2018-11">Scammers have accelerated their attacks on connected-TV and OTT devices, marking a whole new front for advertisers and publishers to combat ad fraud</a></em></p><h2>OTT has a scale problem</h2><p>Some agencies say that the demand for OTT inventory is outpacing supply, which is bad for advertisers and viewers alike - at least when it comes to high-quality, TV-like shows.</p><p>Kirtcheff said sellers try to make the most out of their premium video by bundling it with inventory that doesn't sell as well. The result is that OTT inventory is typically sold in bundles of web video packages that run across devices, web and mobile, so advertisers can't pinpoint the OTT inventory they're buying. </p><p>"We have all this sophisticated technology - pacing algorithms, frequency capping, audience targeting - but still my friends and family ask, 'Why do I see the same ad over and over on my OTT device?'" said Lexie Pike, product marketing manager at Brightcove, during the IAB Tech Lab's Video Summit conference in New York last week. Brightcove provides cloud software to publishers for serving video ads.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a3948084aa6b5bc198b5be0-1300/couple watching tv.jpg" border="0" alt="couple watching tv" data-mce-source="Shutterstock" data-link="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cropped-shot-young-african-american-couple-431016091?src=JONMVw0SDWJOSB_roZ_uuA-1-0" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cropped-shot-young-african-american-couple-431016091?src=JONMVw0SDWJOSB_roZ_uuA-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Targeting is harder with OTT advertising than display ads</h2><p>With digital advertising, ad-tech companies target ads based on anonymous device IDs that house information on viewers' location, browsing history and interest. The targeting parameters are only based on data pulled from one device, meaning that advertisers can try to tailor specific messaging and creative to specific users.</p><p>OTT gets more complicated because website-tracking cookies are not as commonly used. Third-party data companies like Acxiom, Neustar and Nielsen Catalina power a large bulk of digital ads, but OTT advertisers can only use some of this data, <a href="https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/TV-Targeting_08082018.pdf">according to the IAB.</a></p><p>Plus, people watch TV together, which can thwart precise one-to-one targeting.</p><p>"There isn't always a one-to-one match between device and person," said Craig Berlingo, vice president of product at Telaria, which provides software for publishers to use to manage and monetize their video content. "When you're on the phone, a device is a person. If there's three people sitting on the couch watching Roku, that is lost on keeping that device ID as one person."</p><h2>Content is getting tougher to police</h2><p>Similar to how advertisers have struggled to control ad placements and fraud in digital advertising, they're having the same challenge in OTT. Several sources said it's hard to say how big of a problem brand safety is in OTT because of how big the space is becoming. Roku's app store, for example, has more than<a href="https://channelstore.roku.com/browse"> 5,000 channels,</a> up from <a href="https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/number-roku-channels-skyrocketing/">4,500 channels in 2017. </a>In addition to channels from major broadcasters like CBS, Bravo and Fox, there are also channels that only only stream<a href="https://channelstore.roku.com/details/139778/bellydancers"> belly-dancing content</a> or <a href="https://channelstore.roku.com/details/18127/dogtv-channel">DogTV, </a>which describes itself as a "<span>TV channel for dogs when home alone."</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58924efa6e09a81b008b462f-1760/xfinity-roku-beta-featured-menu-change.jpeg" border="0" alt="xfinity tv app roku" data-mce-source="Roku" /><p class="source"><span>Roku</span></p><p class="caption">Roku's app store</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p>That makes OTT a bit of a black box for advertisers.</p><p>"Given the fragmented nature of inventory and the lack of serving standards, consistent measurement is still challenging within OTT," said Rob Auger, SVP of media technology at Digitas. "It's less likely that bots are taking over your Hulu account, and more likely that fraudsters are mislabeling low-quality web impressions as premium CTV inventory."</p><p>With linear TV, publishers control the order and frequency that commercials run since they're organized into so-called pods. Similar to display advertising, streaming TV ads are purchased programmatically, making it harder for advertisers to control where their ads run.</p><p>Telaria's Berlingo said the lack of control means that his firm and others will often call publishers to hash out which ads run where - much like how TV ad pods are put together. Ironically, the back-and-forth defeats the idea that digital streaming ads are easier to target than TV ads.</p><p>"If you have a high-quality show, you don't want to have an ad that doesn't match," he said. "And from an advertiser perspective, you don't want your ad to be shown next to a competitors.' There's a lot of passing back and forth."</p><h2>OTT has an ad-fraud problem</h2><p>OTT is lucrative for media sellers and ad-tech companies. Programmatic OTT ad rates can range from $18 to $40, said Mark Douglas, CEO of SteelHouse, an ad-tech firm that provides self-service media-buying tools to brands. Those rates are nearly double what networks charge in direct deals because they charge additional fees to move the ads into connected devices, and buyers are willing to pay up for the promise to better target TV ads.</p><p>The high rates are seen as temporary because networks are still figuring out how to serve ads within connected devices. </p><p>"When you buy CTV and OTT inventory, there's a network, theres a supply-side platform, there's a demand-side platform, there are a bunch of additional charges," he said. "I think that's a temporary blip and those additional layers are getting ejected to bring the price back in line with closer to what the network is actually charging."</p><p>Meantime, these high CPMs attract fraudsters, said Amy King, VP of product at Pixalate, an analytics firm that specializes in uncovering ad fraud. The company estimates that 19% of OTT ads sold through programmatic pipes are invalid.</p><p>Fraudsters steal ad dollars two main ways, according to King:</p><ul><li>They serve a video ad using real-time bidding so that an ad plays during a break in the content, much like how programmatic display advertising works.</li><li>They use server-side ad insertion (or SSAI), which queues up ads to a server as soon as someone starts watching a video so there's no buffering or lag time waiting for an ad to load.</li></ul><p>Different methods are needed to detect fraud in SSAI than they are in the rest of OTT and the display, video, mobile world, she said.</p><p>For example, fraudsters can create fake IP addresses to create a spike in video ad impressions, or "device farms," which are similar to click farms that generate non-human traffic to devices. Even with TVs turned off, ads in the background can continuously load in the background for hours.</p><p>Thousands of apps are ripe for fraud because fraudsters can change the names and IDs of their apps. For example, if a marketer wants to advertise in an app, it's hard to know if the app is actually the same from one device to the next, King said.</p><h2>OTT shrinks ads into digital formats</h2><p>While TV ads are full-screen, OTT ads are often digital ads repurposed for streaming TV and don't render well on bigger screens.</p><p>"If it's pixelated or if an advertiser used an ad that's meant for a phone and then it's three feet tall [on a screen], that's not going to work," said Telaria's Berlingo.</p><p>Likewise, OTT's lack of standards frustrates production companies. </p><p>People who work in post-production roles are often the last set of eyes to see a commercial or show before it is sent to a network or streaming service. Then the media distributor will work with the post-production company on edits before it runs. With OTT, the same piece of work is often sent to multiple distributors, each with its own requirements for specs like the size of a pixel or audio level.</p><p>Trade organizations like the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Ad-ID are <a href="https://www.ad-id.org/blog/joining-forces-tackle-challenges-cross-platform-video-advertising">working to create standards</a> for production companies. The goal is to create a digital version of a<a href="https://www.dpbestflow.org/video-file-delivery"> "mezzanine" file,</a> which serves as a master file format for all television content.</p><p>Danny Rosenbloom, vp of post production and digital affairs at the AICP, called during the IAB event for industry-wide production standards. AICP represents post-production companies like MediaMonks, Bob Industries and Epoch Media Group.</p><p>"Often in the process of delivering work, our members will receive two or three different audio files, one based on on one standard, one based on another, and the reliance is on the people on the receiving end of those files to figure out which one goes with which," he said. "That's a recipe for disaster - if someone puts a web [audio] mix on a spot for broadcast, it's going to be too high."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/telecom-isnt-moving-fast-enough-2018-12">The president of Turner knows what advertisers want, but says telecom isn't moving fast enough</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/zdruhhYY-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Ad-tech companies and networks are pinning hopes on streaming TV, but OTT is full of headaches for marketers

<p class="p1">A demanding email for a one-year-old's birthday party is going viral on Reddit.</p><p class="p1"><a href="http://www.reddit.com/user/razz32">Reddit user razz32</a> shared the birthday email that his coworker had received from the parents <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/32vltg/most_demanding_1st_birthday_invite_ever/">on /r/pics</a>.</p><p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55368d6b6bb3f7f41167867b-720-960/ljkokwu.jpg" border="0" alt="demanding baby invitation email"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://i.imgur.com/ljKOkWu.jpg">Imgur</a></span></p><p class="caption">The infamous letter.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p><p class="p1">In the email, the parents request four specific gifts, no more books since their baby "hates when we try reading to him," and no personalized clothing with names since it's "the #1 thing that leads to kidnapping, so we don't need to broadcast [name redacted]'s name on clothing or toys."<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">If party guests decide to purchase the baby something that isn't on the list - at any time, not just on the baby's birthday - they must include a gift receipt, the parents write. </span></p><p class="p1">Redditors immediately pounced on the email, <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/32vltg/most_demanding_1st_birthday_invite_ever/cqf9u9b">comparing it to a court summons</a> and <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/32vltg/most_demanding_1st_birthday_invite_ever/cqfbiih">mocking the official tone</a>. </p><p class="p1">They also joked about what the worst possible present would be, based on the email's instructions. "<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/32vltg/most_demanding_1st_birthday_invite_ever/cqfokoa">Personalized books with no receipt</a>," was a stellar option from the original poster razz32.</p><p class="p1">It's possible this recommended list of gifts was requested by family members who were unsure of what to get little baby [name redacted], similar to a wedding registry. The two-gift-per-household limit also implies that this particular family is big on superfluous gift-giving. Still, the email's wording is intense.</p><p class="p1">The worst (or best) part of the email is that after requesting a "water table," play tunnel, play tent, and "The Cheerios Play Book," the parents earnestly add, "If you are unable to get these items, please let us know so that we can buy them right away for him."<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1">Because who could live without a <a href="http://www.walmart.com/ip/20439811?wmispartner=wlpa&amp;adid=22222222227014861840&amp;wl0=&amp;wl1=g&amp;wl2=c&amp;wl3=40330171352&amp;wl4=&amp;wl5=pla&amp;wl6-78288290912&amp;veh=sem">Step2 Tropical Island Resort table</a>?</p><p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55368d4869bedd8c20514efe-900-460/water table.jpg" border="0" alt="water table"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.walmart.com/ip/20439811?wmispartner=wlpa&amp;adid=22222222227014861840&amp;wl0=&amp;wl1=g&amp;wl2=c&amp;wl3=40330171352&amp;wl4=&amp;wl5=pla&amp;wl6-78288290912&amp;veh=sem">Walmart</a></span></p><p class="caption">The "water table" the parents requested.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>In closing, the internet's new favorite helicopter parents write, "By the way, a formal invite from [name redacted] will be arriving in your mailboxes soon…"<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p><p class="p1">Those ellipses really add a sense of dread.</p><p class="p1">Here's a full transcription of the email below:<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Subject: [Redacted name] birthday list</strong></p><p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">With [name redacted]'s birthday coming up, we thought we'd ask for 4 items that he will really get a lot of use out of in the coming months. I provided my mom and sister-in-law [name redacted] with a list of 4 other items [name redacted] would like for his birthday so that they can buy from their list and avoid duplication. We're asking for gifts only from grandparents and the direct aunt/uncle for [name redacted]'s birthday party, and similar to Christmas, would like to restrict it to 2 items total per household.</span></p><p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">[Name redacted]'s birthday list for the [redacted] side of the family is:</span></p><p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">-Water Table (specifically this unit because of how it drains): <a href="http://www.walmart.com/ip/20439811?wmispartner=wlpa&amp;adid=22222222227014861840&amp;wl0=&amp;wl1=g&amp;wl2=c&amp;wl3=40330171352&amp;wl4=&amp;wl5=pla&amp;wl6-78288290912&amp;veh=sem">http://www.walmart.com/ip/20439811?wmispartner=wlpa&amp;adid=22222222227014861840&amp;wl0=&amp;wl1=g&amp;wl2=c&amp;wl3=40330171352&amp;wl4=&amp;wl5=pla&amp;wl6-78288290912&amp;veh=sem</a></span></p><p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">- Play Tunnel: <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90192014/">http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90192014/</a></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">- Play Tent: <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10206883/">http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10206883/</a></span></p><p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">-Fill in the Missing Cheerios Book: <a href="http://www.rightstart.com/the-cheerios-play-book-board-book.html?utm_source=google&amp;utm+medium=shopping&amp;gclid=CMTo2MSn8cQCFe1j7AodskcASQ">http://www.rightstart.com/the-cheerios-play-book-board-book.html?utm_source=google&amp;utm+medium=shopping&amp;gclid=CMTo2MSn8cQCFe1j7AodskcASQ</a></span></p><p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">If you are unable to get these items, please let us know so that we can buy them right away for him.</span></p><p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">A few other important items:</span></p><p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">- If you choose to get [name redacted] something that isn't on this list, anytime regardless of birthdays or holidays, please be sure to always include a receipt going forward. When we return items without receipts, we only get about 50% of the value, so it is like throwing money away if you don't include a receipt with the gifts. With formula costing us $80 a week, it is always nice to be able to return items that he doesn't need to get formula instead.</span></p><p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">- We would suggest no more books beyond the one Cheerios cited above. Right now, [name redacted] has 32 board books on his shelf, and 25 additional books waiting for him in storage once he is 3+ years of age. (And at this point, he hates when we try reading to him.)</span></p><p class="p3" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">- Please refrain from any personalized gifts that would be used outside of the house. Clothing with names is the #1 thing that leads to kidnapping, so we don't need to broadcast [name redacted] name on clothing or toys.</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">Please let us know if you have any questions about any items not on this list that you are considering purchasing and we can let you know if we already have it or if it is in storage waiting for him. </span></p><p class="p5" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="s1">By the way, a formal invite from [name redacted] will be arriving in your mailboxes soon…</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/charge-iphone-faster-apple-battery-life-2015-2">How to supercharge your iPhone in only 5 minutes</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="9hdGRuczob3nOr91AW6QS6gV7dw6BzKX" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', '9hdGRuczob3nOr91AW6QS6gV7dw6BzKX',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Parents of a one-year-old were criticized by the internet after a demanding list of acceptable birthday gifts for their child went viral

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Facebook" title_caption="Erik Johnson" class="zoomin" href="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/52b0a18cecad04575a9b44ca-960/erik-johnson.jpeg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/52b0a18cecad04575a9b44ca-1200-924/erik-johnson.jpeg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="Erik Johnson" width="480" /></a><p class="source"><span>Facebook</span></p><p class="caption">Erik Johnson</p></div><p></p></div>Facebook is preparing to launch a bunch of new and improved capabilities for Atlas, its off-Facebook ad server, in Q1 2014, and the company's head of Atlas, Erik Johnson, agreed to chat with Business Insider about the company's progress when it comes to non-Facebook ads.</p>
<p>Perhaps the biggest issue he addressed was whether Atlas might eventually link your Facebook account to ad-tracking cookies elsewhere on the web, so that Facebook can better identify users wherever they may be, even when they're not on Facebook.</p>
<p>Atlas is the giant ad-serving and measurement business Facebook bought from Microsoft back in February. It's one of the least well understood parts of Facebook's business. Basically, Atlas is like the plumbing for much of the advertising you see outside Facebook on the Web. When websites and mobile devices want to show their users an ad, it is often Atlas that serves the ad and generates data on its performance. One <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-and-microsofts-atlas-ad-server-2013-9">ex-Facebook exec says it has 20% market share.</a></p>
<p>As far as Atlas is concerned, Facebook is most concerned with "multi-touch attribution," Johnson says. Until recently, the last ad a person saw before buying something got credit for the sale. But everyone knows that it may take multiple exposures to different forms of advertising before a consumer will make the final decision to buy. Atlas will give Facebook the ability to see all the different points at which a consumer may have encountered an ad before buying.</p>
<p>Johnson stressed that Facebook is <em>not</em> currently tracking users outside Facebook via their Facebook logins.</p>
<p>But Atlas could eventually be used to follow users across different devices. A consumer may look at something on a phone, a tablet, and then a computer. But cookies can't demonstrate that it's the same person. It may even appear to be three different people.</p>
<p>"We have identifiers that show the person who saw that ad across three different devices was the same person," Johnson says. The identifier he's referring to is your Facebook login - people almost never bother to logout once they've looked at their Facebook app.</p>
<p>"The most important thing is Facebook plus Atlas, and how we're able to focus on people and not cookies," Johnson says.</p>
<p>If an advertiser wants to reach females age 18-34, cookies don't actually identify women specifically in that age bracket. Rather, they identify users whose browsing histories are similar to what you'd expect from someone in that demographic: Maybe they visited sites for a wedding planner, followed by Zappos, followed by a site for the "Hunger Games" movie franchise. It's a big assumption that those users are all female and all under 34, however.</p>
<p>At some point in the future, Facebook ID completes the picture, Johnson says: "The cookie would be the way you connect the ad that runs on a specific site to the Facebook identifier." (Users will remain anonymous and their data used in aggregate - Facebook won't literally be targeting you and you alone.)</p>
<p>That means, as far as Facebook is concerned, that the cookie is not going away any time soon. Ever since it emerged that Google was developing a replacement tracking device for the cookie, the so-called "AdID," there has been speculation that the real-identity logins of Facebook, Google and Twitter might emerge as an alternative to cookies. (A number of companies and a large number of users now all discriminate against cookies, too.)</p>
<p>"It's not quite that black and white, the identifier versus the cookie," Johnson says. "Cookies will probably be around for a while, especially in the developing world. It's a global business. We believe that cookies will be around some time. We see a world where you overlay, or see an identity layer sitting alongside the cookie."</p>
<p>More immediately, Facebook's engineers and developers have been rewriting Atlas's code. The team has rolled out several improvements and is preparing a Q1 launch of an alpha test of a new version of the Atlas platform. "We'll run out an alpha that sits alongside, somewhat independent from the existing platform, and take learnings from that to beta, and subsequently release and figure out the best way to do a custom migration" of all clients, Johnson says. "It's a pretty big task. We want to use as much Facebook technology as possible to make it a very fast service to bring the snappiness and the features you see in Facebook to Atlas, so it's a fairly significant rewrite."</p>
<p><em>Disclosure: The author owns Facebook stock.</em></p>

You Searched For "AdID" and got 9 results

Google Is Losing The War Over Cookies And May Ditch Them In Favor Of A New User-Tracking Device

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Not believing in act of God, Covid vaccine expected in early 2021: Harsh Vardhan

IANS

How Google's New Web Tracking Plan Could Give It A Monopoly Over Facebook And Apple

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Think Cookies Hurt Your Privacy? You'll Beg For Their Return Once You See What Google And Facebook Are Planning

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Adtech Execs Are Terrified That Google Will Create A New 'Monopoly' If It Abolishes Cookies

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Netflix Is Making A Push For More Latin American Customers [THE BRIEF]

Aaron Taube

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