Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Ad Choices Update

Posted by: Kevin Reilly

For the past several months, Media6Degrees has been rolling out the Ad Choices icon in support of the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Self Regulatory program. At this point, we’re pleased to announce that the icon is being used on over 90% of our campaigns.

Given our wide adoption, we wanted to share some details on how users are responding to this new message:

• To date, we’ve served almost a billion impressions that included the icon.
• People who see the icon click through to expand the overlay at a rate of less than 0.005%.
• The overall opt-out rate is 0.0001%.
• Of the people who clicked on the icon to expand it, 3% eventually choose to opt-out.

These numbers tell us a couple of things. First, marketers are lining up behind the program. Our customers are top brands that recognize the value of informing users of their choices regarding advertising. They should be commended for supporting this initiative.

Second, despite some sensationalism in the press and attention from Washington, actual users don’t appear to be that concerned about targeted advertising based on behavior. Perhaps after years of getting targeted direct mail at their homes, which often contains very personal information, people have come to understand that targeted marketing is generally benign, and occasionally quite beneficial. Or perhaps they truly appreciate the value of receiving customized ads. Whichever it is, users are overwhelmingly forgoing the opportunity to opt out.

Third, this initiative provides real information and choice to the subset of people who are interested in opting-out. A 3% post-click conversion rate is not bad from a direct response perspective. The people who are concerned about their privacy are taking action when the option is offered to them. This is exactly how the program is designed to work.

We continue to be proud of these efforts, and truly believe that our privacy-by-design approach to targeting and our support of this industry initiative are valued by our customers. We hope the initiative will give users, customers and regulators the confidence that the companies that adhere to the Self-Regulatory Principles are using targeting responsibly.