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Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

2013

Online advertising

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Full-Text Articles in Economics

Selling Cookies, Dirk Bergemann, Alessandro Bonatti Oct 2013

Selling Cookies, Dirk Bergemann, Alessandro Bonatti

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We analyze data pricing and targeted advertising. Advertisers seek to tailor their spending to the value of each consumer. A monopolistic data provider sells cookies. informative signals about individual consumers.preferences. We characterize the set of consumers targeted by the advertisers and the optimal monopoly price of cookies. The ability to influence the composition of the targeted set provides incentives to lower prices. Thus, the price of data decreases with the reach of the database and increases with the fragmentation of data sales. We characterize the optimal policy for selling information and its implementation through nonlinear pricing of cookies.


Selling Cookies, Dirk Bergemann, Alessandro Bonatti Oct 2013

Selling Cookies, Dirk Bergemann, Alessandro Bonatti

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We develop a model of data pricing and targeted advertising. A monopolistic data provider determines the price to access “cookies,” i.e., informative signals about individual consumers’ preferences. The demand for information is generated by advertisers who seek to tailor their spending to the value of each consumer. We characterize the set of consumers targeted by the advertisers and the optimal monopoly price of cookies. The ability to influence the composition of the set of targeted consumers provides incentives to lower prices. Thus, the monopoly price of data is decreasing in the reach of the database and increasing in the number …


Selling Cookies, Dirk Bergemann, Alessandro Bonatti Oct 2013

Selling Cookies, Dirk Bergemann, Alessandro Bonatti

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We propose a model of data provision and data pricing. A single data provider controls a large database that contains information about the match value between individual consumers and individual firms (advertisers). Advertisers seek to tailor their spending to the individual match value. The data provider prices queries about individual consumers’ characteristics (cookies). We determine the equilibrium data acquisition and pricing policies. Advertisers choose positive and/or negative targeting policies. The optimal query price influences the composition of the targeted set. The price of data decreases with the reach of the database and increases with the fragmentation of data sales.