Coming to Firefox: Ads based on your browsing history

Mozilla already includes limited advertising in Firefox's new tab page, and will soon expand that effort with Suggested Tiles.

Mozilla is on a mission to show that online advertising can be done without violating a user's privacy--or at least not violating it too much. Next week, the beta channel of Firefox will start testing new advertising tiles based on a user's browsing history.

The new advertising feature, called Suggested Tiles, joins Directory Tiles and Enhanced Tiles, which went public in Firefox nightly test builds last summer. All three types of tiles appear on a user's new tab page.

Mozilla says Suggested Tiles will be based on a user's most "recent and most frequent browsing" in order to deliver more relevant ads. Mozilla believes Suggested Tiles will benefit advertisers since it shows history-based advertising early in the browsing experience when "the user is receptive to hearing from them," according to a blog post from Dan Herman, Mozilla's vice president of content services.

Although the ads are based on a user's browsing history, the decision on which ads to show happens in the browser and not on a third-party server. Only a minimal amount of personal data ever leaves the browser, according to Mozilla, such as click activity and tile pins.

That data is then anonymized before it is used for reports shared with advertisers. You can see a step-by-step breakdown of the process on this infographic on Mozilla's site.

The story behind the story: Suggested Tiles are the latest in a string of controversial or surprising decisions Mozilla has made to remain relevant and competitive with other browsers. In late 2014, the open source organization closed a deal to make Yahoo the default search provider in Firefox after depending on Google for years.

Mozilla also introduced the aforementioned sponsored tiles to remove at least some of its financing dependence on the search deal. Most recently, Mozilla added a default DRM scheme to Firefox to enable HTML 5-based video streaming on popular sites like Netflix.

Tiles, tiles everywhere are tiles

With all these different kinds of tiles on Firefox's new tab page things might get a little confusing. To review, Directory Tiles are sponsored tiles that appear to new users who have no browsing history. Enhanced Tiles are based on a user's history and show an improved screenshot image supplied by the site owner. The new image can include a logo as well as a rollover image that appears when you hover your mouse over the tile. Mozilla says Enhanced Tiles would not be displayed to a user unless that site would have already shown up on that user's new tab page.

Then there's the new Sponsored Tiles that are ads based on your browsing history, which Mozilla claims put relevant ads in front of potential customers and respects user privacy at the same time.

To start, Suggested Tiles will largely show Mozilla-focused ads promoting things like Firefox for Android and Firefox Marketplace. But that should change as Mozilla signs on more advertising partners.

Anyone who wants to opt-out of the Firefox ad program in the current stable version can do so by clicking the settings cog in the upper right corner of the new tab page. Then select Classic or Blank.

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.
Show Comments

Latest Videos

More Videos

More Brand Posts

What are Chris Riddell's qualifications to talk about technology? What are the awards that Chris Riddell has won? I cannot seem to find ...

Tareq

Digital disruption isn’t disruption anymore: Why it’s time to refocus your business

Read more

Enterprisetalk

Mark

CMO's top 10 martech stories for the week - 9 June

Read more

Great e-commerce article!

Vadim Frost

CMO’s State of CX Leadership 2022 report finds the CX striving to align to business outcomes

Read more

Are you searching something related to Lottery and Lottery App then Agnito Technologies can be a help for you Agnito comes out as a true ...

jackson13

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Thorough testing and quality assurance are required for a bug-free Lottery Platform. I'm looking forward to dependability.

Ella Hall

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Blog Posts

Marketing prowess versus the enigma of the metaverse

Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.

Liz Miller

VP, Constellation Research

Why Excellent Leadership Begins with Vertical Growth

Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?

Michael Bunting

Author, leadership expert

More than money talks in sports sponsorship

As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.

Simone Waugh

Managing Director, Publicis Queensland

Sign in