Advertising seeks to target the right products to the right audience. Online advertising is no different. Besides the benefit of having relevant advertising, consumers also benefit from targeted online ads because low- or no-cost online content and services often flow from the ability for advertisers to utilize such advertising. Most online ads aren’t matched to you as an individual, but to data categories — such as demographics, interest groups, location or online behavior. The websites you visit work with online advertising companies to provide you with advertising that is as relevant and useful as possible.
Experian works with advertising partners on behalf of our clients to enable the delivery of relevant online targeted advertising to consumers, while respecting consumer privacy and offering choices about participating in such activities. Experian uses data elements from our marketing databases to assist our clients in presenting appropriate offers to consumers. Experian also works with advertising partners to deliver targeted advertising related to Experian’s own products and services. To facilitate targeted advertising, Experian and our third-party partners utilize “cookies” (explained below) and other audience matching technologies.
In addition, third parties may collect data about browsing activities on Experian websites and other unrelated websites over time, for online targeted advertising purposes.
See “Opting-out of Online Targeted Advertising” (below) to learn about choices available to you with respect to this type of advertising.
Cookies and Web Technologies
We, our service providers, and/or non-affiliated third parties, may use “cookies” or similar technologies such as so-called “pixel tags” on the Site.
Cookies are small text files that a web browser uses to store data to make a website experience easier and faster. This technology only stores certain data, such as your website behavior, browser information and your perceived interests. Cookies are the primary technology that enables our advertising partners to display relevant ads to you.
Pixel tags, also known as “web beacons” or “clear GIFs”, are small electronic images, often a single pixel (1x1), that are ordinarily not visible to website visitors and may be associated with cookies on the visitors’ hard drives. Pixel tags allow us to count users who have visited certain pages of the Site, to deliver branded services, to provide online advertising, and to help determine the effectiveness of promotional or advertising campaigns.
Our advertising partners may place a pixel tag or cookie on certain websites, such as a website registration page. This enables our partner companies to later display a relevant advertisement to you based on your website browsing behavior. This type of online, targeted advertising — known as “retargeting” — is used to re-engage consumers who previously visited a website. To measure the effectiveness of the online targeted advertising you see, we partner with companies to evaluate your interactions with the ads. Certain information may be collected and shared with these partners, including what ad you received, when you viewed it and whether you clicked on the ad.
Opting-out of Online Targeted Advertising
Experian adheres to the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) Self-Regulatory Principles. You can opt out of online targeted advertising by Experian and other companies participating in the DAA program through the DAA Consumer Choice page, which is available in versions for desktop and mobile browsers. The DAA also offers a separate choice tool for the collection of cross-app data on mobile devices for online targeted advertising and other applicable uses. To exercise choice applicable to companies participating in this choice tool, you can install the DAA’s AppChoices app. Please ensure you review the opt-out choices available to you within the applicable policies on other Experian owned, affiliated, or operated websites.
A major element of the DAA program is the creation and broad adoption of a clickable “icon” to be placed on or near online advertisements (or on web pages or in apps) that links users to information about online targeted advertising, identifies advertising companies involved in serving such ads, and describes their data collection practices. If you click on the icon on or near an online or in-app ad, you will learn more about the ad and your online targeted advertising choices.
To facilitate an opt-out through the DAA Consumer Choice page, one or more opt-out cookies will automatically be placed on your device to block further online targeted advertising. If you ever delete an opt-out cookie, clear your cookies, use a new browser or purchase a new device, your opt-out preference will not be maintained. You will also need to opt-out again from Experian’s services every five years for each internet-enabled device you use. It is only when the opt-out cookie is present and can be read on your browser that we can know you decided not to participate in online targeted advertising.
Contacting Experian to Opt Out
You also may contact Experian directly to opt out of online targeting advertising. Opting-out of online advertising from Experian in this way will only stop targeted ads that use Experian’s marketing data. You must opt-out of other companies’ targeting methods to stop others from targeting you. Advertisers may use several companies’ data to target ads; therefore you may continue to see the same or similar ads, though they are not stemming from Experian marketing data. See “Opting-out of Online Targeted Advertising” (above) to learn more about the choices available to you about online targeted advertising. After you opt-out, you will likely still see the same number of ads as before, but will probably find them less relevant.
You can contact Experian by calling us at 1 402 458 5247 or by sending your complete name (including any name variations), mailing address, complete telephone number (including area code) and email address to optout@experian.com or to the below postal address.
Experian
Attn: Opt-out Services
PO Box 80128
Lincoln, NE 68521
Please specify if you wish to be removed from online targeted advertising. If you move or change your name, you will need to opt-out again with your new address or name.
When you opt-out with Experian, your information is not deleted from the Experian marketing database. Experian will mark your record as “Do Not Online Target” for a period of five years. You can renew your opt-out request after this five-year period. If Experian removed your information completely, we would have no way to know your preference.