Marketers today must face the ongoing challenge of determining the
proper balance between online ad targeting and privacy. However, the
general public may be less concerned about the matter than privacy
advocates might suggest.
Of the 2,513 respondents to a recent Harris Poll, 55% said they were
very or somewhat comfortable with Websites that had privacy policies
allowing targeted advertising and content. And, unsurprisingly, the
youngest respondents—ages 18 to 31—were more comfortable than average,
with 62% indicating approval of such privacy policies.
Still, 45% of the Internet users polled said they were not
comfortable with policies that allow ad targeting—and that is too big a
group for marketers to ignore.
Research from TNS Global and TRUSTe—a privacy advocacy
organization—found that 70.5% of the 3,260 US adult Internet users
surveyed agreed somewhat or strongly with this statement: "When I am
online, I am aware that my browsing information may be collected by a
third party for advertising purposes."
Awareness and comfort diverge, however, since 57.2% of respondents
also indicated they were not comfortable with advertisers using their
browsing history to serve them relevant ads—even if the data used could
not be tied to their name or other personal information.
Consider that in light of the TNS/TRUSTe result showing 74.3% of US
adult Internet users are aware of tools that help them protect their
online privacy. Further, a whopping 91% of respondents say they would
take the necessary steps to protect their privacy.
On the Internet, however, privacy is a slippery concept. As Information Week has pointed out, the same
"aggregation of the many small pieces of innocuous data" that powers
behavioral targeting also allows further analysis that breaches the
privacy barrier.
Advertisers, publishers and ad companies hoping to placate privacy
concerns will need to expand on informed consent. Website visitors
will have to actively opt in to behaviorally targeted advertising with
the full understanding of the implications of their assent. They will
also need to be informed of the real benefits of saying yes, including
more-relevant advertising and the possibility of free services such as
video, photo storage and so on.