Internet Cookies

posted 1/14/22 by Sam Tverskoy

Advertising technology, also known as adtech, is an overarching term that describes the tools and software advertisers use to reach audiences as well as deliver and measure digital advertising campaigns.

There are two types of ads that appear on the web: programmatic ads and direct-sold ads. For the direct-sold ads business, publishers almost always rely on a Data Management Platform, or DMP, to support audience targeting. A data management platform (DMP) is a software platform used for collecting and managing data. They allow businesses to identify audience segments, which can be used to target specific users and contexts in online advertising campaigns. To simplify it, direct-sold ads are not real time and pretty much do the same thing as newspaper ads. Programmatic advertising uses algorithmic software that handles the sale and placement of digital ads in real-time. Facebook Advertising is a form of programmatic advertising. With its primary function as a social network, there is the necessity to ensure advertising shown on the platform is non-intrusive while also being able to create the results it's advertisers require.

In order to target advertisements best, companies use essentially three different ways tos collect data about their customers: by asking them directly for it, indirectly tracking them, and by acquiring it from other companies. The first way advertising agencies collect data is by using a tiny text file called a cookie. A site normally sends cookies to your computer so it can track your movements among its pages. You can see the types of information that cookies collect.

The second way companies collect data is by asking customers directly by using forms, looking at reviews, and by sending questions straight to customers' emails. The final way agencies collect your data is by buying it from third-party vendors. When you browse the internet, the majority of the ads that you see are gathered by one or more ad technology providers such as WPP plc, Omnicom Group, and The Interpublic Group of Companies. These third-party companies collect traffic in behavioral and demographic data from online users and sell this data to inform other companies so they are better informed on which ads should be shown to specific audiences. Hiring a third party creates significant time savings in labor, and team members can continue to move forward on other projects that would otherwise become stagnant with the introduction of new ones. This allows the company to accomplish a greater amount of company projects in a shorter time frame. Without cookies data would be harder to collect and advertising would be much worse than it is today.