What are Advertising cookies?
Definition
Advertising cookies are small files saved by a browser which help to deliver more meaningful ads.
Meaning explained
Cookies are small files that are stored by user’s browser in order to remember the visitor, which is used, for example, for webpage rendering customization. Advertising cookies collect data about a visitor, which provides insights enabling to provide targeted and more meaningful ads. Apart from relevant ads for users, ad cookies are imporant also for advertisers. Advertising cookies are used in advertisement performance analysis in order to determine an ads’ success.
Some adblocks consider these as intrusive and potential source of malware and adware. Therefore, ad cookies are often blocked. However, even without an adblock, any cookies can operate only with visitor’s consent.
Advertising cookies are also sometimes called targeting cookies.