Data Monetization and Consumer Tracking

In late September 2014, Facebook, the world’s largest social network, announced the launch of Atlas, an ad serving and measurement platform that would allow advertisers to target ads to real people using Facebook’s unique user IDs rather than information based on often inaccurate and unreliable cookies. The concept, called people-based marketing, would provide marketers with more accurate demographic, reach, and frequency information across the Internet and in-app, while preserving privacy by anonymizing users. At the time, the launch of Atlas was heralded as one of the most dramatic steps toward solving for cross-device reporting and cross-channel (particularly online and offline) issues (see Exhibit 1 for a description of cross-device and cross-channel components). This case serves to explain consumer tracking within the context of data monetization.