Dive Brief:
- AOL didn’t just gain a new a new business partnership after being acquired by Verizon, starting next month its ad platform will also be getting valuable Verizon mobile browsing data from the telecom giant's “super cookie.”
- Combining AOL’s ad network with super cookie data will offer highly personalized targeting capabilities that can match internet use with Verizon customers’ mobile details.
- This tracking comes with privacy concerns because the data is unencrypted, undetectable, undeletable, unblockable and invasive.
Dive Insight:
Verizon scooped up AOL looking to build a media and advertising platform, going so far as recently deciding to keep its data to itself to compete with Google and Facebook’s data driven ad platforms. The most recent result of that decision is the announcement that starting in November, the telecom's mobile customer browsing data will become part of the AOL ad network.
The data comes from a somewhat controversial source, a super cookie identifier that is part of Verizon users’ mobile browsing activity. The combination of the super cookie data and the AOL ad network web data allows a deep level of tracking and targeting. Given the depth of insight the data points provide, and the fact there’s no way for users to opt-out of the tracking, it comes with some privacy implications. AT&T had a similar super cookie, but dropped its use a year ago after facing opposition from its users.
