The Data & Marketing Association and the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers have published a “Seven-Step Ad Tech Guide” (the Guide) to help address the privacy challenges of Real Time Bidding (RTB) in programmatic advertising.

RTB is an automated auction process that allows advertising space to be bought and sold on a per-impression basis. When a user visits a publisher’s property (usually a website or app), this triggers a bid request that usually contains personal data (such as the user’s demographic information, browsing history, location and the page being loaded). The bid request goes from the publisher’s property to an ad exchange. It is then submitted to multiple advertisers who can automatically submit bids to place their adverts on the publisher’s property so that it can be viewed by the user in real time, and the ad impression goes to the highest bidder.

As the provision of targeted, personalised advertising through RTB relies on the use of personal data (particularly as more detailed bid requests are deemed to be more attractive to advertisers), various data protection issues and challenges arise in relation to RTB, which have concerned the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The Guide was produced in consultation with the ICO and seeks to address concerns that the ICO identified in its investigation into RTB and the ad-tech industry. The ICO announced in early May that this investigation is currently on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it plans to restart work in the coming months as its concerns about ad-tech remain.
Continue Reading The 7-Step Ad Tech Guide – New guidance issued by industry bodies on programmatic advertising