Dive Brief: 

• AppNexus, Rocket Fuel and xAd are among the ad networks using push notifications to serve up emergency messages -- Amber alerts, missing-children alerts, severe weather -- on desktop and mobile devices. 
• The networks are partnering with Epsilon-owned Conversant to send out the notifications, and each network determines the logistics for sending these alerts, as well as the amount of ad impressions they will donate for alerts.
• The Federation for Internet Alerts (FIA) has sent to date more than 500 million geo-targeted Amber alerts and was named winner of this year's Webby for public service and activism in advertising and media.

Dive Insight: 

Brands and marketers greatly benefit from push notifications, but the emergency alert system is a way for the ad networks to affect social good. The Federation for Internet Alerts (FIA), which is a group of ad networks and exchanges that through Conversant send out emergency notifications, send the same type of push notifications mobile users are accustomed to receiving. Conversant's Chief Privacy Officer Jason Bier describes the initiative as "an advancement in PSA campaigns."