Building the future of digital advertising one block at a time: How blockchain technology can change advertising practice and research

In this article we provide a primer for blockchain technology (BT) and explain ways that it has been applied (or can be applied) to the field of advertising research and practice. We situate this primer inside a critical look at the evolution of digital advertising that has been driven largely by immediate technological need for the maximization of profit rather than considerations for societal well-being. We discuss arenas in which the current state of digital advertising is not well positioned to maximize societal well-being and has built a consumer distrust of digital advertising, specifically with regard to the areas of privacy invasion, value to consumers, technology companies’ power, inaccuracies of personalizations, and misinformation spread. Throughout this article we discuss how blockchain technologies can be used as a research environment for testing new paths for digital advertising that could tackle these issues and be more beneficial to society. We also provide an overview of avenues for future research on BT application in the digital advertising ecosystem.