DATA TARGETING

Targeted advertising: looking beyond the data at social and cultural value

By our News Team | 2021

Targeted ads power much of the web. Their effectiveness has driven advertisers away from many traditional forms of media.

Targeted digital advertising is vital to the African economy. It also has a larger social and cultural value that is often overlooked and not accounted for in conventional statistics.

Targeted advertising

Photo by Radu Minhai at Unsplash

Targeted advertising is a way of placing ads based on demographics, on the consumers’ previous buying history, or on known behaviour. Examples of targeted advertising include having consumers choose which ads to view, placing ads on specific social networking sites, and even billboards that vary depending on who is viewing them. 

This means more people are out there collecting and sharing information about us. This is typically without our awareness or consent.

IAB Europe’s Daniel Knapp, the organisation’s Chief Economist, has issued a new paper. It warns against a blanket ban on targeted advertising. Such a ban was earlier this year proposed in Europe by the European Data Protection Supervisor.

IAB Europe is the continent’s association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem.

What has targeted advertising ever done for us? 

Knapp highlights targeted advertising’s beneficial role in three areas:

  • Enabling the proliferation of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). These include sectors which have special cultural value and wider positive effects on regional social structures
  • As an instrument to help regions (whether Europe or Africa) find their place in a new digital world. This could be encouraged by large industrial policies or continental champions
  • Supporting a strong, diverse and independent media.

Africa is particular in its reliance on SMEs that have strong roots in their local communities. As these small producers become involved in the digital age, targeted advertising does more than just support business growth. 

By enabling these companies to compete for customers online, it helps preserve the uniqueness of local clusters of SMEs, the culturally significant goods they produce, and the social structures that have grown around them.

“We need a constructive debate on how the benefits of targeted advertising that uses data can be best combined with social values and cultural norms that allow [regions] to foster long term prosperity,” says Knapp.

Source: IAB Europe

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    Dr Kin Kariisa

    Group CEO - Next Media

    Dr. Kin Kariisa is an extraordinary force at the helm of Next Media Services, a conglomerate encompassing NBS TV, Nile Post, Sanyuka TV, Next Radio, Salam TV, Next Communication, Next Productions, and an array of other influential enterprises. His dynamic role as Chief Executive Officer exemplifies his unwavering commitment to shaping media, business, and community landscapes.
    With an esteemed academic journey, Dr. Kariisa’s accolades include an Honorary PhD in exemplary community service from the United Graduate College inTexas, an MBA from United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya, a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Huazong University in China, and a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics from Makerere University.
    Dr. Kariisa pursued PhD research in Computer Security and Identity Management at Security of Systems Group, Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands. As a dynamic educator, he has shared his expertise as a lecturer of e-Government and Information Security at both Makerere University and Radboud University.

    Dr Kin did his PhD research in Computer Security and Identity Management at Security of Systems Group, Radbond University in Nigmegen, Netherlands. He previously served as a lecturer of e-Government and Information Security at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and Radbond University in Netherlands.

    Dr Kin did his postgraduate courses in Strategic Business Management, Strategic Leadership Communication and Strategies for Leading Successful Change Initiatives at Harvard University, Boston USA.

    • Other current and previous roles played by Dr Kin Kariisa:
    • Lecturer of e-Government and Information Security to graduate students at Makerere University, Kampala and Radbond University in the Netherlands
    • Director of Eco Bank Uganda Limited, one of the largest banks in Africa
    • Chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters, an umbrella industry association for all Television, Radio and online broadcasters in Uganda.
    • Chairman of Board of Directors of Nile Hotel International, that owns the leading hotel in Uganda, Kampala Serena Hotel.
    • Chairman of Board of Directors of Soliton Telmec Uganda, the leading telecom company in Optic fibre business managing over 80% of optic fibre in Uganda.