NAI

 Network Advertising Initiative (NAI)

 Interest-Based Advertising (IBA) 

or 

Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA).

Founded in 2000, the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) is the leading self-regulatory association exclusively focused on third-party online advertising. 

With nearly 100 members, just about every Internet ad served in the US involves the technology of one or more NAI companies. 

These third-party services are crucial for a diverse Internet ecosystem and digital economy as they help to facilitate the dynamic, free, ad-supported Internet that consumers love and expect. But privacy and consumer trust are also crucial. 

The NAI's role, therefore, is to ensure the health of the online ecosystem by maintaining and enforcing high standards for data collection and use in online advertising. 

With buy-in and support from our member companies, the NAI sets the bar for online privacy through a body of self-regulatory policies – the NAI Code – and through a robust compliance enforcement program that helps members live up to our high standards, but holds them accountable when they don't.

Online Advertising is a broad term used to describe the paid advertising that publishers put on their websites to enable them to provide you content and services for free. 

But what most people hear about is a specific type of online advertising that is tailored to your likely interests by companies promoting their products or services. 

This is known as Interest-Based Advertising (IBA) or Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA).

Interest-Based Advertising is why you see ads that are relevant to you.

With this type of advertising, NAI member companies and advertisers collect information across some of the sites you visit.

They then use this information to try to predict what ads might be the most interesting to you.

Essentially, the free content you enjoy may be used to help serve ads that you would find more meaningful, informative, and interesting, than would the guy sitting next to you. 

Reading an article about travel? You’ll probably see ads for travel shortly after. 

Check out a musician’s website? You might get some ads for music popping up soon too.

Interest-Based Advertising doesn’t depend on information that may be personally identifiable to you such as your name, phone number, Social Security number, etc. 

In fact, most third-party companies don’t want to know who you are for Interest-Based Advertising. They only want to link interest categories (loves travel) or demographic data (male under 30) with your browser so that they can serve up relevant ads. 

Of course, different companies use different methods of Interest-Based Advertising.