Advertising services

Effective Date: March 28, 2013

Adobe offers hosted services as part of the Adobe® Marketing Cloud that give companies tools to provide more relevant ads on pages you visit on the Internet.

Adobe's advertising services help companies improve multiple types of ads. For example, they help companies improve ads connected with social media (like sponsored ads on Facebook), on search results pages (like those on Google or Bing), and across websites (like banner ads on Yahoo!). When a company uses Adobe's advertising services, the company instructs Adobe to collect information about the use of its websites, social media pages, or applications. That company may then use this information to figure out which ads will be more relevant to you.

When a company uses Adobe's advertising services, that company tells us what type of information to collect for them. Examples of the type of information these companies may ask Adobe to collect are:

•  Where you go and what you do on that company's website, apps, or social media

•  Your browsing activity, including the URL of the web page you are visiting

•  The URL of the page that showed the link you clicked on that brought you to that company's website

•  The search you performed that led you to that company's website

•  Information about your browser and device, such as device type, operating system, connection speed, and display settings

•  Your IP address, which Adobe may use to approximate your general location

•  Information you may provide on that company's website or when interacting with that company within social media, including information on order and registration forms and information tied to your profile on social media accounts

•  Details relating to the types of products and services you have bought from that company

•  Ad campaign success rates, such as whether you clicked on a company's ad and whether viewing or clicking on the ad led you to purchase that company's products

The information Adobe's advertising services collect belongs to the company using our services, not to Adobe. Adobe uses this information only as allowed in a contract with the company to provide services to that company. Note that sometimes Adobe has permission from these companies to access and share "aggregated" information collected by Adobe with our customers, prospective customers, and partners in order to improve our products and services, to provide reports and market research, and to understand market trends. Aggregated information is anonymous and does not identify individuals. For example, we may publish reports that show which browsers or operating systems are used to access websites of the companies that use our advertising services.

Most Adobe advertising services, such as the services that help companies provide ads on news articles, are not designed to collect information that identifies you personally. However, if you either provide a company information that identfies you or interact with a company's social media sites, apps or pages, Adobe may use that information to provide you ads for that company through social media. Adobe does not use any of this information for its other advertising services.

Some companies may also buy or acquire from public sources additional non-personally identifiable information about you, such as your age and gender, and then add that additional information to the information collected by Adobe's advertising services. Companies will often do this so they can provide you with more relevant advertising. For information on how a company uses this information, refer to that company's privacy policy.

Most Adobe services use cookies and similar technologies, such as web beacons (also known as tags or pixels) and embedded scripts, to collect the information described above. Cookies associate the information with your web browser. Web beacons transfer information between cookies and Adobe computers. None of the information gathered by these cookies and web beacons is used by Adobe advertising services to personally identify you.

Learn more about your choices for Adobe's use of cookies.

Social media networks you visit may allow a company to send Adobe information about you after you interact with that company’s social media sites, apps or pages.  Most social media networks allow you to change your settings regarding how your information is being used.  You can learn more about the information social media networks allow companies to collect by reviewing the privacy policy of the social media networks you use.

In general, companies use the information that is collected by our advertising services to provide you with more relevant ads. For example, a company may use this information to:

•  Identify your likely interests based on your previous browsing activity so it can show you more relevant advertising (for example, you may have an interest in cars or leather handbags)

•  Place you into segments that it can use to categorize your likely interests (some example segments are Sports Enthusiasts and Frequent Online Shoppers)

•  Improve how it delivers ads

•  Understand its customers' buying and viewing trends

•  Create reports that may be used for market analysis

To learn more about how a company uses the information we collect, refer to that company's privacy policy.

Adobe's advertising services use cookies to help collect the information described above. Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to block all cookies or to block just those set by companies other than the one whose website you are visiting (often called "third-party cookies"). If you change the setting in your browser to block cookies, you will block a company's ability to use Adobe's advertising services to provide you relevant content and advertising. For further information about managing cookies, visit http://iab.net/privacymatters/4.php.  

Another way for you to tell us you do not want companies to use Adobe's advertising services to provide you with relevant content and advertising based on your previous browsing activity is to opt out by following the instructions here. If you do opt out, you will no longer receive ads powered by Adobe's advertising services based on your previous browsing activity. You may still receive ads from companies that use Adobe's advertising services, but they will no longer be based on your previous browsing activities or likely interests. When you opt out, Adobe will place opt out cookies on your browser. If you delete your cookies, change browsers, or change devices, you will need to repeat this opt-out process. Also, please note that this opt-out process will work only if your browser is set to accept all cookies.

Adobe does not share this information except as described in the Adobe Privacy Policy or when asked to do so by the company using our services. Please review the privacy policy for the company using Adobe's advertising services to learn about that company's privacy practices.