YouGov Direct: Digital Advertising Blockchain Data Exchange?

As we speak, the advertising ecosystem that is currently being used across the globe is embedded with a number of problems that directly affect consumers, brands, agencies, and even the publishers themselves.

To be more specific, we can see that more often than not consumers have very little control over the data they are fed with and brands don't know whether their ads are being seen by real customers or just bots. To add to this, with the advent of AdBlocker, it is now becoming increasingly harder to have a good online presence without spending a lot of money .

Lastly, as per the latest guidelines released by the EU in 2018, when the GDPR comes into effect, there will be an substantial increase in consumer data protection (which will lead to a further falling down of advertising revenue).

About The YouGov Direct Project

YouGov Direct is an all new “blockchain-based platform and ad network” that has been designed to allow users to specify attributes that they would like to share with advertisers. As a result of this, advertisers will gain a better understanding in regards to the needs and wants of a particular customer, thereby allowing for better/ higher quality content to be delivered to them.

It should also be mentioned that all of these activities are incentivised, and for each transaction taking place within the network, users will gain a set amount of native currency which can then be redeemed at a later stage.

This platform has been developed by YouGov— a trusted name in online personal data within the UK and other European nations.

Who Can Benefit From YouGov Direct?

(i) Causal Internet Users:

Apart from rewarding users for sharing some of their personal data, YouGov Direct also allows for improved profile control and privacy over our customized information.

(ii) Publishers:

Another underrated aspect of this platform is that it allows for an immersive shopping/ advertising experience for visitors. This is in part due to the fact that YouGov Direct lays in compliance with all of the latest rules laid out by the GDPR.

(iii) Advertisers:

Since this service comes embedded with filters and specialised algorithms, it is able to better target audiences for the relay of marketing content. This improves overall viewership as well as reduces the chances of Ad fraud.

Why Choose YouGov?

To start off with, we can see that this advertising platform is completely decentralized, and thus we can see where exactly the flow of money and content is being directed. It is also important to recognize that YouGov already comes with a 5 million strong panel team that is ready to volunteer information about themselves through survey responses.

This means that YouGov Direct does not need to enter the market and then prove itself— since it already has a means of acquiring consumer data in a highly streamlined manner.

Lastly, according the website, YouGov users will be “able to choose which personal attributes to make available to advertisers while remaining anonymous”.

Some of the main advantages of this platform include:

• Easy access to personalized, permissioned data
• Leverage capacity for all of one’s information.
• Use of transparent and verifiable records
• Mechanism that allows for bots to be filtered out.
• Possesses “data tracking capabilities” that allow for better targeting of core consumer markets.

Who Is Behind This Project?

The founder of this venture is Stephan Shakespeare who has been in the “Internet Research” sphere for over a decade. Similarly, Sundip Chahal serves as the COO for this venture. He has been with YouGov for over ten years and is primarily involved with the company’s expansion efforts.

Lastly, Alex Mcintosh is the company’s Chief Financial Officer. As per his official bio, Alex has been in the financial sector since the dawn of the new millenium and in the past he has been associated with several high profile ventures that have drawn signicat market interest.

How Do I Get Onboard?

To sign up, users can click on the “Express interest” tab and then fill out the forms that are provided to them. The process should take no more than 15 minutes, and once the formalities have been completed, company representatives will get back to us within 24 – 48 hours.

For any other details, information, clarifications users can send in an email to the helpdesk.