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Online Advertising: Data, Materiality, Systematicity and Power

在线广告：数据、实质性、系统性和力量

基本信息

批准号：
ES/V015362/1
负责人：
Donald MacKenzie
金额：
$ 65.4万
依托单位：
University of Edinburgh
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2022
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2022 至无数据
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FV015362%2F1
关键词：
Online Advertising Data Materiality Systematicity

项目摘要

In the first half of 2019, advertisers spent $57.9 bn on online advertising in the US and £7.3 bn in the UK (IAB 2019a&b). Traditional advertising - especially print, already in eclipse - has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis, but online advertising, particularly on the top platforms, much less so (Barker 2020). It is expected to continue to grow, especially if the shift to e-commerce is permanent, and revenues from it finance much of the everyday digital world (search, social media, email services, apps, etc) as well as, eg, crucial outlets for serious journalism. Online's share of political advertising, negligible a decade ago, rose in the UK to 23.9% in 2015 and 42.8% in 2017 (Electoral Commission 2018: 4). Yet surprisingly little research in science and technology studies, sociology or politics has focused in any depth on the practices of online advertising. We will examine how online advertising has developed from simple 'renting' of space on websites to today's 'real-time bidding'. Many millions of times a day, the momentary opportunity to show an advertisement to a specific individual user triggers an instantaneous automated auction, with bidding algorithms being provided with, eg, details of the user's device and location, and often a 'cookie' (a text file previously deposited in the user's browser) or other identifier, which can be linked to data such as the user's age band, gender, interests and browsing history (including uncompleted purchases and perhaps even mouse 'hovers'). We will research how data is generated (not just by the now-familiar 'cookies', but by less well-known techniques such as 'pixels': tiny invisible images downloaded by users' devices) and how it is used to 'target' ads, inform automated bidding, and measure advertising's success. We will examine how and why advertising technology takes the material forms that it does, including the effects of material constraints such as the need to bid in online auctions within around a tenth of a second, and investigate the relationship of advertising's materiality to diverse forms of power and politics, such as the 'market power' of the field's giants such as Google and Facebook, the impact of the politics and law of privacy (eg the EU's General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR), and the 'material politics' of the choices among ways of configuring crucial technical systems. Our research will combine investigation of current practices and debates with examination of the historical processes of their emergence (including the migration of the techniques of digital advertising into electoral politics and political campaigning). Preparatory fieldwork has given us the contacts to conduct audio/video interviewing until coronavirus risk has been minimized sufficiently to permit face-to-face interviews and observational ethnography (in relevant firms and at advertising's many industry meetings). Where possible, we will conduct multiple repeat interviews with key informants. Analysis of primary-source documents, often technical in nature, will supplement and serve as a way of crosschecking fieldwork findings.We will achieve impact beyond academia by providing unbiased information and research-based findings to practitioners, policymakers and the general public. The UK has by far the largest online advertising sector in Europe (Adshead et al 2019: 36); the sector's skills could be an important economic resource for the UK after its transitional arrangements with the EU end. But crucial policy issues remain to be resolved. Eg, the Information Commissioner's Office has said that data dissemination/processing for real-time bidding 'is taking place unlawfully' (ICO 2019: 23). The Competition and Markets Authority has suggested that concentrated market power in advertising may be undermining competition and harming consumers (CMA 2019&2020), and the Electoral Commission (2018) has called for greatly enhanced transparency in political advertising.

2019年上半年，广告商在美国的在线广告支出为579亿美元，在英国为73亿英镑（IAB 2019a&b）。传统广告，尤其是已经黯然失色的印刷广告，受到了冠状病毒危机的沉重打击，但在线广告，尤其是顶级平台上的在线广告，受到的影响要小得多（Barker 2020）。预计它将继续增长，特别是如果电子商务的转变是永久性的，并且它的收入为日常数字世界（搜索、社交媒体、电子邮件服务、应用程序等）以及严肃新闻的重要渠道提供了资金。在线政治广告的份额在十年前可以忽略不计，但在英国，2015年和2017年分别上升至23.9%和42.8%（选举委员会2018:4）。然而，令人惊讶的是，在科学技术研究、社会学或政治学方面，很少有研究深入关注在线广告的实践。我们将研究在线广告是如何从简单的“租用”网站空间发展到今天的“实时竞价”的。每天数百万次，向特定个人用户展示广告的瞬间机会触发即时自动拍卖，出价算法提供，例如，用户的设备和位置的详细信息，通常是“cookie”（预先存放在用户浏览器中的文本文件）或其他标识符，可以链接到用户的年龄、性别等数据。兴趣和浏览历史（包括未完成的购买，甚至可能鼠标“悬停”）。我们将研究数据是如何产生的（不仅仅是现在熟悉的“cookie”，还有不太为人所知的技术，如“像素”：用户设备下载的微小的看不见的图像），以及它是如何用于“定向”广告，通知自动投标，并衡量广告的成功。我们将研究如何以及为什么它广告技术的材料形式,包括材料的影响约束等需要在网上拍卖出价约十分之一秒内,并研究广告的关系的重要性不同的权力和政治形式,如“市场力量”等领域的巨头谷歌和Facebook,政治和法律的影响隐私(如欧盟的总体数据保护监管或GDPR),以及关键技术系统配置方式选择的“物质政治”。我们的研究将结合对当前实践和辩论的调查，以及对其出现的历史过程的审查（包括数字广告技术向选举政治和政治竞选的迁移）。预备实地调查为我们提供了进行音频/视频采访的联系人，直到冠状病毒风险降到最低，以便（在相关公司和广告行业的许多会议上）进行面对面采访和观察人种志。在可能的情况下，我们将对关键线人进行多次重复采访。对主要来源文件的分析，通常是技术性的，将补充和作为交叉检查实地调查结果的一种方式。我们将通过向从业人员、政策制定者和公众提供公正的信息和基于研究的发现，实现学术界以外的影响。迄今为止，英国拥有欧洲最大的在线广告部门（Adshead et al, 2019: 36）；在英国与欧盟的过渡安排结束后，该行业的技能可能成为英国重要的经济资源。但关键的政策问题仍有待解决。例如，信息专员办公室表示，实时投标的数据传播/处理“是非法的”（ICO 2019: 23）。英国竞争与市场管理局（Competition and Markets Authority）表示，广告中的市场力量集中可能会破坏竞争，损害消费者利益（CMA 2019&2020），选举委员会（election Commission）（2018）呼吁大幅提高政治广告的透明度。