Engaging with the New ‘Ad Choosers’
Executive Summary
Consumers are increasingly concerned about preserving their online privacy and not
being inundated with too many ads across media platforms. At the same time, thethird party cookie which has been leveraged for digital advertisers is on the trajectory
for a complete phaseout by 2022. Advertisers are being challenged on how to drive
media results without ‘surveillance based media products’. The Brave browser, with
25MM monthly active users, is the first privacy based digital ad platform built tomaintain users’ privacy. We refer to the Brave users who opt-in to receive ads as ‘Ad
Choosers’. Dentsu International partnered with Brave to understand how advertising on
the Brave platform impacts key branding metrics for their advertisers compared toother digital campaigns. Our analysis showed that for the three campaigns measured,
the Brave ads outperformed other similar digital campaigns compared to publishers
with more traditional ad models. As third party cookies are being eliminated from thedigital advertising ecosystem, finding ways to respectfully connect and engage with‘Ad Choosers’ is critical for advertisers’ success.

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Introduction
Shelter in place and restrictions on travel and gatherings have given consumers moretime than ever to consume news, entertainment and other media. And, by all accounts,
Americans have increased their screen time partly due to working from home and thenew era of socializing online. Increased regulations have made various forms of online
advertising more challenging. More and more online consumers are opting out of
traditional online advertising formats. Based on these trends, a new segment ofconsumers have emerged whom we refer to as ‘Ad Choosers’. The Brave browser wasdeveloped specifically for this emergent audience: consumers who are concerned
about privacy but are open to receiving advertising content on their own terms. Basedon our analysis of dentsu ad campaigns on the Brave platform, it is possible not only to
break through to these privacy focused Ad Choosers with your advertising message,
but also to positively impact message association and brand consideration.
1. Privacy Regulations and The Demise of the Third Party Cookie
In the past several years, data privacy legislation, including Europe’s GDPR (GeneralData Protection Regulation), CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) and New YorkSHIELD Act have limited what data websites can collect, and have required moretransparency around what data are collected and how they are used. In the EU,
Programmatic Pioneers’ Summit estimated that programmatic advertising has
declined by 20%-50% post GDPR. “This is because, in the pre-GDPR landscape,programmatic advertising relied on vast quantities of third-party data with which toseduce media buyers. However, in the post-GDPR world, this is no longer possible.”
California’s Proposition 24 (CPRA - California Privacy Rights Act), the Consumer Personal
Information Law and Agency Initiative, recently passed, further expanding the state’s
consumer privacy laws. We believe that restrictions on use of online data will continue
to expand.
In addition, manufacturers and publishers are putting into place their own policies
which will impact the use of cookies that are currently used for advertising targeting.
Apple is planning a new privacy feature with iOS 14 that will require developers to ask
users for permission to track them across mobile apps and websites. This feature isPage 3 | Brave Software, 512 Second St., Floor 2, San Francisco, CA 94107 | adsales@brave.com

expected to be implemented in early 2021. Google has also announced that it will stop
supporting third party cookies in 2021 for Chrome.
All of these privacy changes make programmatic online advertising (which the IAB
estimates represents 85% of online ad spend) less attractive. Without the ability to store
information about users’ activities across websites and apps, we anticipate thatprogrammatic ad spend will decrease significantly.
Given digital advertising’s current reliance on third party cookies, it’s imperative to findrobust and effective ad platforms that don’t rely on cookies for advertiser targeting.
Brave is one of the platforms addressing the privacy concerns of digital surveillance
based media.
2. Media Trends: Consumption Increasing But Increasingly on Non Traditional
Advertising Platforms
While time with media overall has been increasing since COVID, time with ad supported
media has been declining across platforms.
Less ad supported TV: While many Americans have found more time to binge watch
their favorite TV programs in the past 6 months, increasingly, they are choosing towatch through streaming platforms. A recent study showed that ⅔ of all Americanhouseholds have cut the cable cord or are planning to do so. And, Variety Intelligence
Platform predicts that partially due to economic uncertainty another 8MM will cut thecord in 2020 (up from 5.5MM in 2019).
According to Nielsen’s Total Audience Report, even pre-pandemic, time with connected
TV (e.g., game console, internet connected devices) was at parity with live and time
shifted TV among P18-34. And that does not include time spent streaming media on
laptops or PCs. Cable TV ratings for P18-49 have declined by 27% over the past twoyears. While some streaming platforms are ad supported, overall streamers see far
fewer ads than linear TV viewers.
More streaming audio: Edison Research’s Share of Ear study showed that during
COVID, for the first time, streaming audio represented a larger share of time (53%)
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compared to listening on linear or non-digital devices (47%). There are ad supported
versions of Spotify and Pandora, but a key benefit for paid subscribers of those
platforms is not receiving ads.
More Time Online, But Opting Out of Ads: In Q1 2020, Nielsen also shows that P18-49
spent more time online (through laptop, smartphone or tablet) than with television
media. However, a 2019 Global Web Index report shows that nearly half of US browsers(48%) have used an ad blocker in the past month. The top reasons cited for using ad
blockers are: too many ads, ads are annoying, and ads are intrusive. One in four web
users are concerned that ads might compromise their online privacy.
In addition to not wanting their browsing experience to be interrupted by ads, online
consumers are also deeply concerned about online privacy and how their personal
data is being used. A 2019 study from Pew Research Study shows that 79% of online
users are concerned about how websites and companies are using the personal datathat they collect, and 81% believe the risk of data collection outweighs any benefits theymay receive.

3. Brave ‘Ad Choosers’
The Brave Browser’s 25MM monthly users are attracted to a browser that has built in adblocking. Users have the option to “opt in” to Brave ad notifications that preserve theirprivacy, and are rewarded for their attention to these ads. Not only are these ads nonintrusive to the browsing experience, but viewing these ads actually helps them earn
“Brave Rewards” which they can then use to tip some of their favorite content creators
or publishers, or redeem for gift cards.
Brave ad notifications do not interrupt the ad viewing experience. Brave’s privacy
focused browser does not collect any data, so users are comfortable that if they
engage with an ad they will not be retargeted across the web.
Here is an example of a sponsored image on the Brave browser for DAZN (an OTT
subscription sports streaming service) that ran in Canada.

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And, below is an example of an ad notification that Brave ‘Ad Choosers’ might receive.

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Brave also leverages ads across mobile and desktop in order to direct users to Twitteror other social platforms to join the conversation about specific brands or promotions.
The social acceleration of adding hashtags to ad notifications is another way that
Brave helps amplify brand messages among ‘Ad Choosers’.
From opt-in, anonymized surveying of the Brave audience we know that these valuable
consumers are difficult to reach elsewhere. Only 1 in 5 Brave users watch ad supported
television. 75% of their browsing is happening on Brave, and when they elect to use
another browser, 6 in 10 have installed ad blockers. So, when Brave users opt-in toengage with ads, the ads are more memorable than others that might be presented ina cluttered environment. Measuring Brand Impact Among Brave ‘Ad Choosers’:
Brave partnered with dentsu international to run campaigns for three brands in three
separate categories (technology, media and entertainment and financial services). We
ran campaigns on Brave and measured the brand lift pre vs. post campaign. These
results were then compared to other pre post brand lift studies that the advertiser andagency conducted across other more traditional online advertising platforms.
Pre-post survey methodology:
Prior to the campaign launch, Brave serves survey invitations through Push Notification
to Brave users with the same interest areas and targeting as the advertisers’
campaign. Post campaign, we use the same methodology of serving survey invitations
to the same footprint as the ad campaign. This methodology preserves consumers’
privacy when capturing survey results.
Note that this methodology differs from most vendors who run pre-post survey
research by retargeting users who were exposed to the campaign. Since Brave’s
privacy protocols do not allow for retargeting, the Brave users who receive the survey
invitation have the opportunity to see the ad. For example, if a Brave user did not use
her browser on a day where the sponsored image ran, she would not have been
exposed to that ad. Given this methodology, we believe that the Brave survey results
are more conservative than what we would see through a traditional post campaign
re-targeting methodology in which anyone who received the survey invitation was also
exposed to the target ad.

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dentsu international campaign results:
For the three campaigns that dentsu international ran with Brave, we saw positive
results overall, and more favorable brand lift results compared to other online
campaigns that the advertiser ran.

Brand A: Technology Brand+26% lift in ad recall compared to another digital campaign
The Brave ads were not only memorable to the Brave
audience, but sponsorship association more than doubled
based on the ad campaign.

Brand B: Media Brand - DAZNFor DAZN, we compared results from a one-week campaign on
the Brave browser to an 8 week flight with another online
publisher.
+38% lift in likelihood to subscribe vs. other campaign“As an agency engrossed in the inevitable demise of the cookie and aheightened need for privacy-driven solu:on, we want to posi:on our clientsin the best way possible as our industry con:nues to evolve. We were looking
for proof of performance to con:nue that momentum for what we thought
could be a successful trajectory for ac:va:ng media in a new medium
mo:vated by Ad Choosers, and Brave helped us accomplish that.” - Amy
Siegel, VP, Director of Innova:on and Ac:va:on dentsu interna:onal

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Brand C: Financial Services Brand
For a financial services brand that advertised with Brave, we saw a +16% increase in adrecall among all Brave users compared to ad recall for a campaign that the brand ran
across a social platform with twice as much media weight. It’s important to note thatthe Brave pre-post methodology serves survey invitations to Brave users utilizing thesame targeting as the advertisers’ campaign. The methodology used for the otherdigital platform serves survey invitations by retargeting those exposed to thecampaign. Since the Brave users had the ‘opportunity to see’ the ad campaign but
were not necessarily exposed to the campaign, this 16% increase is conservative.
In addition to ad recall being higher on Brave, we also saw a 67% increase in message
association post-campaign. For the similar campaign on the other digital platform, thefinancial services brand did not see any increase in message association.

+16% lift in ad recall
compared to anotherdigital campaign+67% lift in message associationcompared to the other digital
campaign

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Summary of Results

5. Lack of Clutter Means Results:
Marketers are benefiting from the uncluttered environment and opt-in nature of Braveads. Across 20 post-campaign studies that we conducted, ad recall was 49% onaverage. These numbers are unheard of for digital campaigns and probably have notbeen seen since the days of three network TV stations. On average 76% of those whorecalled seeing these ads claim to have clicked on the ads. Tellingly, for the average
campaign measured, on average only 14% of Brave users saw an ad ad for the specificadvertisers elsewhere.
In addition to the ads being memorable, they also are impacting business results. We
see significant change in key brand perceptions among Brave users, often paired withincreased usage or purchase intent of our brand partners.

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And despite general skepticism towards advertising, half of Brave users admit that they
feel more positively towards brands who advertise on Brave. Given that they are
unlikely to see our partners’ ads elsewhere, we are happy to help them reach andengage with these difficult to reach and attractive consumers.

Key Insights:‘Ad Choosers’ vs. Ad Avoiders:-It is possible for advertising platforms to develop a value proposition that incents
their user base to become ‘Ad Choosers’‘Ad Choosers’ are opting out of many traditional media platforms and are harder
to reach with advertising messages-Those ‘Ad Choosers’ who invite advertisers into their media experience noticeand engage with ads

Non-Surveillance Based Media Drives Results:-Ads served in opt-in environments stand out even more than interruptive ads onother digital advertising platforms from brand/promotion awareness tomessage association and purchase intent-

Increased attention and ad engagement translate to strong branding KPIs forbrands, from message association

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About Brave
Brave is the first global digital ad platform built for privacy, offering advertisers theopportunity to participate in a premium, brand safe, and opt-in ad ecosystem,
designed for a future without 3rd party cookies. Its privacy-focused browser provides
users with the fastest browsing experience, and the highest level of privacy in themarketplace. Users have full control and earn rewards through the Basic Attention
Token. With 25 million users worldwide and a 9% CTR platform average, brands choose
Brave as their preferred advertising platform.

About dentsu international
Part of dentsu, dentsu international is made up of eight leadership brands - Carat,dentsu X, iProspect, Isobar, dentsumcgarrybowen, Merkle, MKTG, Posterscope andsupported by its specialist brands. Dentsu International helps clients to win, keep andgrow their best customers and achieve meaningful progress for their businesses. With
best-in-class services and solutions in media, CXM, and creative, dentsu international
operates in over 145 markets worldwide with more than 46,000 dedicated specialists.
www.dentsu.com

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