Research to identify global ad networks, trackers
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 11:48 pm
Hi, I'm new to the community and looking for advice.
I'm doing research on online advertising. (The final report will be free and available to the public. You can see a previous report I did on the app economy here: https://medium.com/@BryanJustinPon/winn ... .ixmaefl6e)
I want to do an inventory of top websites globally (based on Alexa rankings), documenting all the ad networks, trackers, analytics, and other 3rd-party tools that each one is using. I have two problems/needs that I'm looking for advice on:
First, I can do this manually by visiting each site with an ad blocker such as Ghostery installed and recording what it finds, but I want to run it on 1,000+ URLs so need an automated solution. Any idea if such a tool already exists? or if one of the existing ad block tools can do this? Clearly I need to record, not just block.
Secondly, even if I have a list of URLs that a website was calling, I need to translate those URLs into more useful company names. For example, the tool may record that a website was trying to reach "log.dmtry.com" but I want some list for matching that URL to the company name, "Adometry."
Any advice or suggestions on existing tools or places to look very much appreciated.
Bryan
I'm doing research on online advertising. (The final report will be free and available to the public. You can see a previous report I did on the app economy here: https://medium.com/@BryanJustinPon/winn ... .ixmaefl6e)
I want to do an inventory of top websites globally (based on Alexa rankings), documenting all the ad networks, trackers, analytics, and other 3rd-party tools that each one is using. I have two problems/needs that I'm looking for advice on:
First, I can do this manually by visiting each site with an ad blocker such as Ghostery installed and recording what it finds, but I want to run it on 1,000+ URLs so need an automated solution. Any idea if such a tool already exists? or if one of the existing ad block tools can do this? Clearly I need to record, not just block.
Secondly, even if I have a list of URLs that a website was calling, I need to translate those URLs into more useful company names. For example, the tool may record that a website was trying to reach "log.dmtry.com" but I want some list for matching that URL to the company name, "Adometry."
Any advice or suggestions on existing tools or places to look very much appreciated.
Bryan