Advertising, Analytics, and Privacy
Oath’s ability to provide the Oath Services such as its websites, products, and services are supported in large part by advertising, including those provided by ONE by AOL advertising services. ONE by AOL advertising services span Oath owned and operated pages as well as many other websites across the Internet.
Oath displays various types of advertisements (such as banner ads, rich media ads, and sponsored links) on the sites you visit for a variety of reasons. In the same way that we use information about you (see "Personal Information") to customise or personalise the content or services we provide, we may also use both your Personal Information and information from other companies to make the adverts you see more relevant for you, and more effective for advertisers. We may do this in the following ways:
- By customising the advert based on the content of the site. For example, in such contextual ads, you may see sports-related adverts on a sports site.
- By selecting an ad based on our knowledge of the audience we think may be looking at that page. This is often done with publicly available and/or aggregated demographic information, or it may be done with analysis of the aggregated traffic on a particular website, or by using the registration data or other household data you have provided or that we have acquired from other companies (your "Personal Information" as defined in the Privacy Policy). For example, we may use information about your visits to the AOL Cars channel to personalise the advertisements you see. We may do this based on the details you have submitted, your expressed preferences and your online activity, how often you use the service, or the type of device you use, together with the activities and experiences of other Oath users who we believe may have similar interests and preferences to you. We may supplement this data with publicly available consumer data, including demographic information to help us decide how to make your experience more relevant.
- By using navigational information about where you go, ONE by AOL advertising services may better understand how the Oath Services are used, and what content and advertisements are enjoyed. This is often called behavioural advertising, behavioural targeting, interest-based advertising, or customised ads. When you visit sites using ONE by AOL advertising services, and unless you have opted out, you may receive a "cookie" or other technology that helps us note, in an anonymised way, that you visited that site. This information goes into ad logs that are kept for a limited duration. From the ad logs, ONE by AOL advertising services may use information about your activity to help us display adverts that are more relevant. Note that the information shared with advertising networks is always with a unique identifier, and does not include personally identifiable information such as your name, email address, etc.
- ONE by AOL advertising services may also provide you with content and advertisements which may be customised using information such as the search terms you use on the Oath Services – for example, if you search for "football" you might see more content and advertisements relating to "sports" and related subject matter areas.
Please note we do not use any navigational data about where you as an individual, go, or what products or services you use on the wider internet outside of the Oath Services, save where such sites provide for such use in their respective privacy policies.
Through agreements Oath has in place with each party, the following third party advertising networks and service providers may use cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies in connection with advertisements and services offered through the Oath Services and other web sites, including to help operate advertising networks. The information stored on a third party ad network and service provider's cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) may be transmitted to and stored on servers outside of the EU. Please refer to the relevant privacy policy of the third party ad network or service provider for further information. Many websites and applications also may use "Flash cookies" that operate similarly to regular browser cookies.
You can control browser cookies through your browser's settings. You can control Flash cookies via the Macromedia Flash application on your device, or by going to the Macromedia Flash Player website Macromedia Flash Player website, which allows you to view, modify, and delete Flash cookies. If you reject all browser or flash cookies, however, you will not be able to take advantage of many Oath Services’ offerings.
The use of cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies by third party advertising networks and service providers is subject to their own privacy policies.
Oath and our advertisers may use additional service providers. Please visit the Interactive Advertising Bureau website for additional information about other providers and the options they may offer.
You can opt-out of Oath’s interest-based advertising delivered by ONE by AOL advertising services. You will still receive advertising that is not interest-based.
Consumer Control
While it is not possible to turn off all advertising, you can choose not to receive personalised advertising from ONE by AOL based on your behaviour by opting out of this service.
Oath also adheres to the Internet Advertising Bureau ("IAB") UK's Good Practise Principals for Online Behavioural Advertising. You can learn more and opt out of behavioural advertising from the Internet Advertising Bureau.
In addition, you can use your browser to control your experience. When you clear the cookies in your browser, you may clear the information used to build a behavioural profile. Depending on the browser you are using, you can also choose to block third party cookies (such as cookies from ad networks) or browse in a private browsing mode. As new technologies emerge, your ability to control your experience may no longer rely solely on cookies. In such instances, we will provide additional information or instructions to manage your preferences.
You can opt out of receiving targeted ads from ONE by AOL advertising services in mobile apps. Additionally, you can stop collection of information by Oath apps by uninstalling them using the standard uninstall process available on your device or via the application marketplace or network from which you installed the app.
Opt-Out Durability
Many opt outs are based on a cookie set on your browser that prevents the collection of data connected to a unique anonymous ID. If you opt out using this method, the opt-out will generally last for 1-5 years. But clearing the cookies in your browser may cancel the opt-out.