The BPA and Bombora, in conjunction with publishers and tech companies, have called on the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) to review their terms and conditions, specifically regarding publisher’s rights not being adequately protected.
With about 20 other publishers, the BPA wrote a letter stating that the real time bidding (RTB) is exposing publishers to audience data breaches. Real-time bidding is the buying and selling of online ad impressions through real-time auctions that occur in the matter of time it takes a webpage to load.
When an advertising opportunity occurs, usually at the top of the list is the publisher and advertiser who’s buying directly. However, with RTB, third parties have the same access that the publisher does, and often are using that data to create derivative works.
President and CEO of the BPA Glenn Hansen said: “What we found was that there were companies coming in with no intention of ever advertising. All they wanted to do was get exposed to that data so in effect, they can copy it for themselves. And now, they can begin to put their own database together of people searching for that type of content. And then they can go out and find some other advertisers who want to talk to their audience and potentially sell it at a lower price point than their competitors.”
As a response, the BPA decided to address the problem in chunks. The first step was approaching other publishers to help write an open letter to the advertising industry, which was signed and published in June 2020. The second step was to create contractual clarity and follow through. The BPA created a terms and conditions draft regarding data protection that each publisher will begin including in all RTB related contracts.
The IAB is now doing a complete review of the terms and conditions that the BPA have drafted. The BPA and IAB will meet on a weekly basis to review the terms of conditions and address how third party cookies might go away now. The next step in the process to come will be to put together a certification programme.
