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First-Party Ad

What Is a First-Party Ad?

A first-party ad is an advertisement that is managed by the website owner where the ad appears. The ad often promotes products, services, or content that the owner of the website directly offers. 

This type of advertising allows website owners to have full control over the content and targeting of their ads. First-party ads are some of the most privacy-friendly types of digital ads since they don’t require sharing users’ data with external entities.

Third-party definition 

A first-party ad is a Web ad whose content is loaded from the same domain as the page showing the ad. The domain is the part of the URL after the “://” and before the next slash. For example, the domain of this page’s URL is “brave.com.” The opposite of a first-party ad is a third-party ad, which is loaded from a different domain than the page showing the ad. – Brave

First-Party vs Third-Party Ads 

First-party ads are served directly from the same domain as the website the visitor is browsing. This means that both the content of the webpage and the content of the ad are hosted on the same server or under the same domain.

From a technical point of view, this approach allows website owners to have better control over the ads’ content and how they integrate with their site’s user experience.

Example: If you’re visiting example.com and see an ad that is also served from example.com, it’s a first-party ad.

Third-party ads are served from a domain different from the website being visited. The ad content is hosted on external servers owned by other companies, typically ad networks.

This method allows ad networks to track user behavior across multiple sites, leading to targeted advertising based on the user’s browsing history.

Example: If you’re on example.com and see an ad served from adnetwork.com, it’s a third-party ad.

Privacy and User Tracking

First-party ads are more privacy-friendly than third-party ads. Since the ads are served from the same domain that shows them, first-party ads are less likely to involve extensive cross-site tracking.

Website owners who use first-party ads usually collect and use data directly from their users without sharing it with external third parties. This can build trust with users who are concerned about their privacy.

First-party ads are less likely to be blocked by ad-blocking technologies because these blockers typically target ads served from known advertising domains (third-party sources).

Some advanced ad blockers and privacy-focused browsers might still identify and block these if they use recognizable ad formats or if users specifically configure their settings to do so.

Third-party ads enable advertisers to track user activity across different sites via cookies and other tracking technologies, negatively impacting user privacy. The good news is that third-party ads are often blocked by privacy tools and browsers that restrict cross-site tracking, impacting their effectiveness and reach.