Skip to main content

Growing Confusion about Behavioral Ad Targeting

 
eMarketer reports that Internet users have been sending mixed messages about targeted advertising. Sometimes say they appreciate the relevance; sometimes they would provide personal information to facilitate targeting; and yet they also report concerns about advertisers and publishers having too much data.

While this suggests that consumers may be confused about online privacy and what behavioral targeting entails, research from online ad preference management provider PreferenceCentral calls into question whether consumer education is a solution for marketers.

Asked if they would prefer to pay for content, view targeted advertisements in exchange for free content, or receive limited free content supported by untargeted ads, 58 percent of US internet users chose targeted ads.

However, their willingness to receive those types of ads decreased after they became more educated about how behavioral targeting worked.

Nearly half of internet users said awareness of behavioral targeting did not change their comfort level. But, only 14 percent became more comfortable with education, while twice as many said they were less so.

After behavioral targeting education, 50 percent of users preferred to receive limited content and avoid targeting, compared with 37.3 percent who remained willing to be targeted in exchange for fully free content.

Putting control into a user's hands over the ads served and the types of information used for targeting, however, restored a higher level of comfort with targeted advertising. The conclusion: education without effective empowerment may not be enough for consumers to get comfortable with targeting.

Popular posts from this blog

AI and Cloud Upgrades Propel IT Investment

As we move deeper into 2025, the global technology sector is at a crossroads of innovation acceleration and market recalibration. The latest Gartner forecast projects worldwide IT spending to reach $5.43 trillion this year, marking a 7.9 percent increase over 2024. Despite the global economic uncertainty and lingering market caution, organizations are forging ahead with Cloud Computing adoption, and especially Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven transformation. Let's explore where new investment is flowing, what’s guiding decision-makers, and how key technology trends will define the global IT trajectory through the rest of the decade. Enterprise IT Market Development Data Center Systems experience 42.4 percent growth, a historic surge linked directly to global investments in AI-ready infrastructure. Software and IT Services remain pillars of growth, showing significant expansion as organizations persist in their digital transformation journey. Device spending, including PCs and mo...