Designing Distributed Ledger Technologies, Like Blockchain, for Advertising Markets

International Journal of Research in Marketing, Forthcoming

21 Pages Posted: 29 Aug 2022

See all articles by Mingyu Joo

Mingyu Joo

University of California, Riverside

Seung Hyun Kim

Northeastern University - D'Amore-McKim School of Business

Anindya Ghose

New York University (NYU) - Leonard N. Stern School of Business

Kenneth C. Wilbur

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Rady School of Management

Date Written: August 11, 2022

Abstract

Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs), like Blockchain, could help improve brand safety, consumer privacy and transparency in digital advertising. However, paid advertisements transfer attention, money, and data between three parties: advertiser, consumer, and publisher. Therefore advertising-focused DLTs face more complex design considerations than currency-focused DLTs. We describe four key DLT characteristics: structure, participation/governance, transparency, and terms of exchange. We survey current advertising-focused DLTs and find they each serve only two of the three contracting parties in advertising transactions. We make design recommendations for future advertising-focused DLTs, including a goal of serving both consumers and publishers in addition to advertisers. We also recommend governance, transparency and terms-of-trade considerations. Advertising-focused DLTs have significant promise but also significant obstacles, including multi-sided “chicken-and-egg” problems in standards adoption.

Keywords: Distributed Ledger Technology, Blockchain, Digital advertising, Transparency, Privacy

Suggested Citation

Joo, Mingyu and Kim, Seung Hyun and Ghose, Anindya and Wilbur, Kenneth C., Designing Distributed Ledger Technologies, Like Blockchain, for Advertising Markets (August 11, 2022). International Journal of Research in Marketing, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4194180

Mingyu Joo (Contact Author)

University of California, Riverside ( email )

900 University Ave.
Riverside, CA 92521
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.mingyujoo.com

Seung Hyun Kim

Northeastern University - D'Amore-McKim School of Business ( email )

370 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA Massachusetts 02115
United States

Anindya Ghose

New York University (NYU) - Leonard N. Stern School of Business ( email )

44 West 4th Street
Suite 9-160
New York, NY NY 10012
United States

Kenneth C. Wilbur

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Rady School of Management ( email )

9500 Gilman Drive
Rady School of Management
La Jolla, CA 92093
United States

HOME PAGE: http://kennethcwilbur.com

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
237
Abstract Views
922
Rank
247,567
PlumX Metrics