How viewer privacy and consent work
When an ad is served contextually instead of to a household, which signals decide that, what is kept and for how long, and who is responsible.
LtvAdx serves ads to households, and respects what viewers and publishers say about them. When a signal says a household should not be used, the ad is still served, but contextually: as if the viewer were anonymous. This article explains when that happens, what it means for each kind of customer, and what is kept.
This is a plain-language guide, not the legal text. What you agreed to is the Privacy Policy, the GDPR page and your contract.
What "contextual" means
A contextual ad is chosen from what is known about the request itself: the channel and its content, the country and region, and the type of device. It does not use the household. In practice, that means for that request:
- No household or audience targeting, and no retargeting or addressable delivery.
- No frequency capping by household.
- No household identity sent to anyone.
Ads served to outside demand partners get no advertising ID, and only the viewer's network rather than their address. The partner is told that the request was served contextually.
When a request is served contextually
Consent is checked on every ad request. The request is served contextually if any of these is true.
| Signal | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Child-directed | The request is marked child-directed, or the channel is a kids channel (a Kids category, or a TV-Y, TV-Y7 or TV-Y7-FV rating). |
| Do not track | The device says do not track or limit ad tracking. |
| US privacy opt-out | A US privacy string that opts out of sale. |
| No consent where GDPR applies | GDPR applies and there is no valid consent string. See below. |
| Opted out | The household has opted out. See Viewer opt-outs. |
When GDPR applies. If the request says it does, or says nothing and the viewer is in the EU, the EEA, the UK or Switzerland. It then needs a TCF v2 consent string that gives consent for purposes 1, 3 and 4 (and for LtvAdx's vendor ID, once one is assigned). A GPP string is passed on to outside partners but is not used to decide this.
If LtvAdx cannot check whether a household has opted out, the request is served contextually.
What each customer needs to do
Publishers pass the signals their player or consent tool has: the GDPR flag and consent string, the US privacy string, do not track, and child-directed. If you do not pass them, requests from the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland are served contextually. Mark kids channels as kids content so they are treated that way.
Operators mark a subscriber who opted out with optedOut in the signal upload. Such a subscriber is put in no segment and gets contextual ads only. See Viewer opt-outs.
Advertisers and agencies should expect that some delivery will be contextual. That is not an error. Targeting that depends on a household simply does not apply to those requests.
Who is responsible
For viewer data that a publisher or operator brings, that publisher or operator usually decides the lawful basis and is responsible for the consent it collects. LtvAdx usually acts on its instructions. They must have a valid basis before passing viewer signals. The Privacy Policy sets this out.
What is kept
| What | For how long |
|---|---|
| A household profile | 90 days after it was last seen. Each time the household is seen the clock restarts. |
| A device linked to a household | 30 days after the device was last seen. |
| Ad delivery events (each impression, quartile and click) | 395 days. Reports are built from daily totals, which are kept. |
| A viewer's opt-out | 730 days. It is kept even if the household profile has gone, so a later upload does not put the household back. |
| An Ad Choices request | Until it has been answered. |
Device IDs and IP addresses are never stored as they are. LtvAdx keeps a keyed hash of each instead: the same device or address always gives the same hash, so a household can still be recognised, but the hash cannot be turned back into the ID or the address. An IP address is used at request time to work out the country and region, and its hash is kept on the household profile for as long as the profile.
The Privacy Policy and GDPR page set out the other retention periods. If you need a figure for a data protection assessment, contact support.
What viewers can do
A viewer can turn on Limit Ad Tracking on their TV, or use the Ad Choices page. Both are described in Viewer opt-outs.