Ad Platform is Latest YouGov Launch

Research and analytics firm YouGov has launched a digital advertising platform, YouGov Direct, allowing its five million plus panellists to make selected personal attributes available to third parties for ad targeting purposes, while remaining anonymous.

Consumers will earn rewards for sharing their data - as they already do for survey purposes - but can choose which data is available to advertisers. For example, the firm says a user might decide to share information about favourite hobbies and withhold data related to health history. Brand and publisher clients will get improved, GDPR-compliant targeting, and thanks to blockchain technology which verifies the data exchange will be assured that ads are reaching 'actual humans as opposed to bots'.

Data products and services were a key contributor to YouGov's impressive results for the year ended 31st July 2017, with revenue up 9% on a constant currency basis to £107.0m, and adjusted profit before tax up 24% to £16.4m. The firm's segmentation and media planning tool Profiles scored a significant coup in the autumn when media group Dentsu Aegis Network signed a two-year licence to use them for its audience understanding, strategy and activation needs - replacing longstanding supplier Kantar TGI.

Picture: YouGov CEO Stephan Shakespeare. Web site: www.yougov.co.uk/results .