WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 6, 2011 – The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) today announced that Quantcast, a leading provider of audience measurement and media targeting solutions for marketers and publishers, is participating in its Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising and will offer, for free, the Advertising Option Icon to its massive publisher base of small and medium-size websites (also known as long tail publishers).

This offering, the first of its kind, will enable millions long tail publishers to provide consumers with greater choice regarding interest-based ads.

Publishers can feature the Advertising Option Icon on their Web pages where data is collected. By clicking on the Icon, consumers are able to link to the Consumer Opt-Out page, a universal, easy-to-use opt-out mechanism available at www.aboutads.info.

Starting in July, the Icon and link to Consumer Opt-Out page will be available to publishers with annual OBA revenues under $2 million and total annual revenues under $15 million. Quantcast has broad publisher adoption of over 25 million web destinations and, through this offering, brings massive scale and availability of the DAA’s Self-Regulatory Program, significantly furthering consumer notice and choice about information collected and the ads they see.

“Quantcast’s participation in the Self-Regulatory Program is an important catalyst for widespread adoption by the long tail publishing community,” said Peter Kosmala, DAA’s managing director. “We look forward to having conversations with other companies in the OBA space who are committed to promoting consumer choice.”

“Consumer privacy is a top priority for Quantcast,” said Michael Blum, general counsel for Quantcast. “We’re proud to support the DAA in this effort to provide the advertising community with more effective tools for consumer notice and choice and to bring accessibility of the Self-Regulatory Program to the IAB’s Long Tail Alliance. We are making this investment because we believe it will help the DAA continue to achieve widespread adoption of the Program and establish the Icon as the universal symbol of transparency and consumer choice.”

“IAB, which itself has a strong and growing Long Tail Alliance of entrepreneurial publishers, commends this effort that provides the vast long tail community with a new means to be part of the industry’s Self-Regulatory Program,” said Mike Zaneis, senior vice president, Public Policy & General Counsel, IAB and DAA Board member.

Quantcast joins more than 100 companies actively participating in the Self-Regulatory Program including advertisers, ad agencies and ad networks; 90 more have registered for the Self-Regulatory Program and are preparing to deploy the Advertising Option Icon.

To learn more about participating in the Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising and the consumer-opt-out option, visit www.aboutads.info.

About The DAA Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising The DAA Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising was launched in 2010 by the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), a consortium of the nation’s largest media and marketing associations including the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI). These associations are committed to developing effective self-regulatory solutions to consumer choice in online behavioral advertising (OBA).

Based on seven “Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising” proposed by the Federal Trade Commission, the DAA Self-Regulatory Program is designed to give consumers enhanced control over the collection and use of data regarding their Internet viewing for OBA purposes. With the support of the six stakeholder trade associations – representing more than 5,000 U.S. companies – the Program promotes the use of the Advertising Option Icon a universal symbol found within or near online advertisements or on Web pages where data is collected and used to deliver online advertising that is based on inferences derived from the collected data. By clicking on the icon, consumers are able to link to a clear disclosure statement regarding the participating company’s online behavioral advertising data collection and use practices, as well as a universal, easy-to-use, opt-out mechanism.

To learn more about the Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising, please visit www.aboutads.info.