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Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA)
Practical Law Glossary Item 4-503-6290 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA)
Also known as behavioral advertising or interest-based advertising. Defined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as the "tracking of a consumer's online activities over time … to deliver advertising targeted to the individual consumer's interests." Online activities tracked in behavioral advertising include the user's:
- Searches conducted.
- Web pages visited.
- Content viewed.
This data is typically collected by using tracking technologies, often without the user's knowledge.
The FTC expressly excludes from its definition both:
- First-party behavioral advertising, where no data is shared with third parties.
- Contextual advertising (or keyword advertising), where an ad is served based on a single visit to a web page or single search query.
In the US, OBA is regulated primarily through:
- Industry self-regulation in accordance with self-regulatory principles published by the FTC.
- FTC investigations of unfair or deceptive trade practices.
The FTC expanded the self-regulatory program to the mobile environment in 2015.