Short answers, pulled from the story.
Database marketing emerged in 1980 as a method to personalize customer communications. This early form of targeted advertising allowed companies to track specific traits like race, economic status, sex, age, generation, education level, income, and employment.
Demographic, psychographic, and behavioral variables form the core framework for modern data-driven marketing. Advertisers use these traits to direct ads toward audiences with certain characteristics based on the product or person being promoted.
Targeted advertising secured an average of 2.7 times more revenue per ad than non-targeted run-of-network advertising. It was twice as effective at converting users who click on ads into buyers.
Sixty-eight percent of respondents stated they were not okay with having their online behavior tracked and analyzed. Privacy International suggests interception of web traffic must be conditional on explicit informed consent.
Quantcast agreed to pay $2.4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit regarding zombie cookies used on partner sites like MTV, Hulu, and ESPN. These cookies regenerated even after deletion to continue tracking users.