The industry still continues to operate under old privacy rules, though it's changing -- a change fueled, some believe, by the tension between first-party companies and third parties that use the data.

Think Realtime is bringing yet another layer of automation to the highly mechanized new machine of digital ad buying. Its machine learning system optimizes and automates RTB execution on Google Display.

IBM unveiled its study Beyond Digital, analyzing the digital behavior of 3,800 respondents in six countries, at the National Association of Broadcasters show.

Mobile apps and the mobile Web are already starting to give us incredibly granular views into what really goes on in Aisle 3 and how purchase decisions are being made on the ground. This will change everything.

Have you ever read a comment by someone who wants to see advertisements that might help get their job done better? For example, a UPS ad might serve up on a specialty gift Web site, or American Airlines discount tickets on a hotel Web site.

For all of the nods to the value of context in digital display, the ad tech structure that targets audience anywhere poses a fundamental challenge to the business models and value proposition of media as we have known it. The elephant is still in the room.

DoubleVerify released the 2H 2011 Trust Index study that analyzes and provides insights on the state of the industry for ad verification and non-compliance reporting.

In a multiscreen world, "context" takes on a whole new meaning. Now it is something closer to behavior -- indicating a user's mood and mode.

Marketers whose jobs entail targeting ads and collecting consumer data must have some interesting conversations at non-industry events where small talk drifts toward work. These masters of messages do well when conveying a brand's focus online, but do they reach for the correct words in causal conversations to convert the listener?

Congress wants 34 iOS app developers to disclose what data they are collecting from devices and why. This line of questioning could eventually lead to publishers being much more honest and disciplined about tying data collection to beneficial services.