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Garrett Johnson

@garjoh.bsky.social
1.5K followers 1.1K following 131 posts

Marketing professor @BUQuestrom researching digital marketing: privacy & ad effectiveness. 🇨🇦,🇺🇸. garjoh.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Garrett Johnson
Shunto J. Kobayashi @sjkobayashi.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
I joined @ericseufert.bsky.social on the Mobile Dev Memo podcast — one of my favorite shows — with coauthor @garjoh.bsky.social to discuss our PNAS paper (with Zhengrong Gu) on removing cookies and privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) in digital advertising. mobiledevmemo.com/podcast-quan...
mobiledevmemo.com
Podcast: Quantifying the advertising value of cookies (with Garrett Johnson and Shunto Kobayashi) | Mobile Dev Memo by Eric Seufert
Podcast: Quantifying the advertising value of cookies (with Garrett Johnson and Shunto Kobayashi)
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Check out this cool short-form video about our cookie #research in PNAS that @bostonu.bsky.social released! www.youtube.com/shorts/6ZKdp...
youtube.com
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Reposted by Garrett Johnson
Chapell @achapell.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
My PSA to all the (big) tech engineers and privacy-pros who are singing the praises of Privacy Enhancing Technologies..... And some great research from @garjoh.bsky.social and @buquestrom.bsky.social!! This week's @monopolyreport.bsky.social monopoly-report.com/p/pets-what-...
monopoly-report.com
PETs! What Are They Good For? (Anything?)
PETs should be tied to specific outcomes and allow for third-party validation of key claims.
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
New write-up by @bostonu.bsky.social's The Brink of our PNAS paper on the value of cookies & Privacy Sandbox for online publishers: www.bu.edu/articles/202... Work with Zhengrong Gu & @sjkobayashi.bsky.social.
bu.edu
Should You Accept Internet Cookies? BU Researchers Say the Open Web Could Suffer Without Them
New study finds ad revenue that supports digital publishers and content creators tumbles when cookies are removed
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Our research on the value of cookies & Privacy Sandbox for online publishers with Zhengrong Gu, & @sjkobayashi.bsky.social is now published in PNAS 🎉🎉. Check out this thread for an overview 👇
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Quoted in this Bloomberg Law piece on server-side tracking (a.k.a. CAPI) and its legal risks. news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/s...
news.bloomberglaw.com
Server-Side Tracking to Shape Future of Pixel Privacy Litigation
Companies seeking to stem the tide of wiretap lawsuits targeting their use of data analytics tools like tracking “pixels” from Meta Platforms Inc. and Google LLC are looking to a relatively new way of...
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Excited to read DoorDash's blog about how it uses Ghost Ads👻 to measure the incremental impact of its retail ad offerings. advertising.doordash.com/en-us/resour...
advertising.doordash.com
How DoorDash Measures Restaurant Ad Incrementality with Ghost Ads
DoorDash introduces ghost ads to measure restaurant ad incrementality — reducing experimentation dilution by 92% and improving iROAS by 35%.
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Quoted in this Marketplace piece on modern price discrimination. www.marketplace.org/story/2026/0...
marketplace.org
Different customers, different prices: Companies use data for personalized pricing
Between surveillance pricing and discounting, it's harder than ever to figure out if you're getting the best price.
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Appeared on today's Marketplace Tech podcast to discuss the challenges & benefits of integrating ads in AI search engines. www.marketplace.org/episode/2025...
marketplace.org
The challenges of integrating ads in AI search engines
Garrett Johnson, professor of marketing at Boston University, shares his thoughts on the nuanced challenges of adding advertising to generative AI search platforms.
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
In honor of #GivingTuesday, my wife & I are matching donations (up to $20K) to the ASFOP Teega Wende Orphanage in 🇧🇫Burkina Faso🇧🇫, which supports over 200 orphans and we have supported for over a decade. 1/2
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Quoted in The Wall Street Journal piece on Pinkfong, maker of the most watched YouTube video ever "Baby Shark". 1/2 www.wsj.com/tech/the-wor...
wsj.com
The World’s Most-Watched YouTube Video Hasn’t Made Its Creator Rich
The Korean company behind the ubiquitous song “Baby Shark” is hampered by ad restrictions on children’s content but wants to raise funds for expansion via an IPO.
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Gift article: "Europe Begins Rethinking Its Crackdown on Big Tech" www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/t...
nytimes.com
Europe Begins Rethinking Its Crackdown on Big Tech
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
The paradigm shift in performance ad creative is just mind blowing for marketers. open.spotify.com/episode/2BWI...
open.spotify.com
The Science of Creative (And Other Hot Takes) with Uber and Dr. Squatch
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Google is largely shutting down the Privacy Sandbox. Surviving: CHIPS, FedCM, Private State Tokens Out 💀 : (Anything you’ve heard of!) Topics, Protected Audience API, Attribution Reporting API, Private Aggregation, Related Web Sites… privacysandbox.com/news/update-...
privacysandbox.com
Update on Plans for Privacy Sandbox Technologies
In this October 2025 announcement, the Privacy Sandbox team shares updates on plans for Privacy Sandbox technologies.
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Today, the UK Competition & Markets Authority decided to release Google from its Privacy Sandbox-related commitments. Read more: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68f213...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Quoted in this The Wall Street Journal piece on proposed standards for ad auctions, which are critical to ensuring the efficiency & integrity of modern advertising. www.wsj.com/articles/adv...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Advertisers Push Big Tech to Adopt Standards for Transparency in Ad Sales
A new proposal asks digital ad auctions to voluntarily disclose how they pick winners and set prices.
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Reposted by Garrett Johnson
The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
SOUTH CAROLINA… “Judge Goodstein was walking on the beach when the fire started. Her husband, Arnie, was in the house with children and perhaps grandchildren. The family had to escape by jumping from a window or balcony...” www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Where’s Your Evidence, Mr. President?
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Reposted by Garrett Johnson
Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Horrific. mRNA vaccines have saved millions of lives and could save millions more. “I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business,” said Mike Osterholm, a UMN expert on infectious diseases & pandemic preparations. www.huffpost.com/entry/rfk-va...
huffpost.com
RFK Jr. Cancels $500 Million In Funding For Vaccine Development
The mRNA vaccines are credited with slowing the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
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Reposted by Garrett Johnson
Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 03/08/2025
Janet Yellen's husband & Econ Nobel Laureate George Akerlof: "...when presidents flip the board, it’s not just a game that ends. It’s the pieces of democracy that get scattered to the floor." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/o...
Imagine a group of 5-year-olds playing a board game. The rules are clear, the goal is fair, and one child edges ahead — until, suddenly, another child starts losing. That’s when the trouble begins. “He cheated!” the losing child yells. “I’m the winner anyway!” he declares. And then, like clockwork, he flips the board. In the world of kindergarten conflict resolution, we expect this kind of behavior. We chalk it up to development. We teach better sportsmanship.

What do we do when the president of the United States behaves this way? On Friday, President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics — the nation’s workaday scorekeeper of employment, wages and productivity. Why? Because the data didn’t make Mr. Trump look good. The statistics were inconvenient. So the president didn’t just challenge the findings; he fired the statistician. That’s not governing. That’s board flipping.
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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 30/07/2025
I subscribe to @theonion.com for the ads.
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Open positions include:
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Experience with children a plus
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We know about your
secret iPad, Mike Johnson
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We warned you that our bees were dying, and you did fucking nothing.
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Reposted by Garrett Johnson
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
Marco Rubio, Stephen Miller, Kirsti Noem, Joseph Mazzara, Emil Bove, Drew Sargent, and everyone else involved in planning, executing, and obstructing justice around the CECOT imprisonments are responsible for Andry's torture and rape. Each bears a share of the blame. Don't ever let them forget it.
Andry Hernandez, one of the detainees who was also released just over a week ago, told NPR that guards routinely beat prisoners with batons in the hallway — or dragged them to a small, windowless cell known as "La Isla," or "The Island," where the abuse was even more brutal.

According to Hernandez, 32, the prisoners would be dragged out of their cells for complaining about their conditions, taking a bath outside designated hours, or even for making too much noise.

Hernandez, who is openly gay, said he was once taken by the guards to "La Isla" after guards noticed him bathing with a bucket outside designated hours.

He said that he was beaten by three guards wearing masks. And forced to perform oral sex on one of the guards. After a couple of hours, he was dragged back to his cell.

"CECOT was hell on Earth," Hernandez told NPR from Capacho, Venezuela, where he's now back with his family.
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Reposted by Garrett Johnson
Global News @globalnews.ca · 22/07/2025
Industry data shows that from March 5 until April 30, sales of U.S. spirits in Canada fell by 66.3 per cent compared with the same period last year. globalnews.ca/news/1129832...
globalnews.ca
U.S. liquor sales have dried up in Canada amid trade war, industry says - National | Globalnews.ca
The spirits industry says the sales of American-made products dropped 66 per cent in March and April after several provinces pulled their goods from store shelves.
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WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 22/07/2025
This is Goose. He's here to perform his own rendition of "Piano Man" by Billy Joel. 13/10 please enjoy
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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
He lived and worked here for 40 years. My god I am so ashamed at what's happening.
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Reposted by Garrett Johnson
NPR @npr.org · 18/07/2025
The House approved a Trump administration plan to rescind $9 billion in previously allocated funds, including $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
n.pr
Congress rolls back $9 billion in public media funding and foreign aid
The House approved a Trump administration plan to rescind $9 billion in previously allocated funds, including $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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Reposted by Garrett Johnson
SSRN @ssrn.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Can Privacy Technologies Replace Cookies? Ad Revenue in a Field Experiment. This study suggests that current #privacy-enhancing technologies fall short of fully compensating for the economic value of cookies. spkl.io/63325fCCOL @garjoh.bsky.social @sjkobayashi.bsky.social
Woman using a laptop
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Quoted in this Marketplace piece on gen AI ad creatives www.marketplace.org/story/2025/0...
marketplace.org
Amazon has started selling AI video ads. What does this mean for digital marketing?
Gen AI can quickly customize ads for different audiences, but it remains to be seen if they'll hold humans' attention in the long-run.
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
@OSchiffey covered our recent research on the Privacy Sandbox’s performance for publishers and its adoption after Google abandoned its cookie deprecation plans. @AdExchanger www.adexchanger.com/data-privacy...
adexchanger.com
No Shade, But Does Anyone Still Care About The Privacy Sandbox? | AdExchanger
Despite all the drama, companies haven’t completely abandoned the Privacy Sandbox, and BU's Garrett Johnson has the receipts to prove it.
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
🧵1/ Google’s Privacy Sandbox promises to replace third-party cookies with privacy-preserving tech. But does it preserve publisher revenue? We partnered with @weareraptive to analyze 200M+ ad impressions across 5,000+ sites in the CMA-Google field experiment. Here's what we found 👇
Privacy Sandbox: Roadworthy? by Kevvo
Source: AdExchanger https://www.adexchanger.com/comic-strip/comic-roadworthy/
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
A recent @adexchanger comic captures the sentiment that Google's Privacy Sandbox is out with Google abandoning its cookie deprecation plans. But, is that the reality on the ground? 1/2
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Karolin Luger @nucleosomepolice.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Please share widely with friends, family, and foes. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/u...
nytimes.com
U.S. Scientists Warn That Trump’s Cuts Will Set Off a Brain Drain
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 29/05/2025
President Trump on Wednesday commuted the sentence of a California venture capitalist and major political donor who had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for violating lobbying, campaign finance and tax laws, and obstructing an investigation into Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee.
nytimes.com
Trump Commutes Sentence of Major Donor to his 2017 Inauguration
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Did a fun live interview for South Korea's Morning Wave in Busan on clicking "accept all" on cookie walls. 🍪🇰🇷🍪 www.youtube.com/live/EZRpwuV...
youtube.com
[5/23 FRI] 출근길 영어뉴스 I Morning Wave in Busan
YouTube video by 부산영어방송 Busan English Broadcasting
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
Happy 7th birthday to the #GDPR 🎂
media.tenor.com
a woman with a robotic eye painted on her face says fun will now commence
ALT: a woman with a robotic eye painted on her face says fun will now commence
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
When the viewability standard is 50% of the ad... 🤣🤣🤣
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Sincera Offers A Free API For Some Of Its Prized Metrics | AdExchanger www.adexchanger.com/online-adver...
adexchanger.com
Sincera Offers A Free API For Some Of Its Prized Metrics | AdExchanger
The Trade Desk released OpenSincera on Tuesday, a free API integration that posts ad impression data on publishers and tech vendors.
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Reposted by Garrett Johnson
Lukasz Olejnik @lukaszolejnik.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
BREAKING: Polish Prime Minister Tusk announced full certainty that the massive fire at Marywilska 44, a major wholesale center in Warsaw, was arson ordered by Russian intelligence.
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Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 10/05/2025
Nearly *three-quarters* of American wine exports to Canada vanished by the end of the second full month of Trump 2.0. Hard to overstate how much damage he's inflicted on what had been a $420M+ annual market for US winemakers. Whether this business ever comes back is an open question.
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Seminar now up on YouTube if you are interested: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCka...
youtube.com
Garrett Johnson - Privacy-Enhanced versus Traditional Retargeting (7 May 2025)
YouTube video by VIDE Seminar
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Presenting our work on Privacy Sandbox performance tomorrow in VIDE's online (free) seminar 5/7 11AM ET. Sign up at digitalecon.org. papers.ssrn.com/abstract=497...
papers.ssrn.com
Privacy-Enhanced versus Traditional Retargeting: Ad Effectiveness in an Industry-Wide Field Experiment
An advertiser can use retargeting to target its site visitors with ads offsite, often to push users to complete a purchase. Retargeting is controversial because
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Comic: Back To The Future | AdExchanger www.adexchanger.com/comic-strip/...
adexchanger.com
Comic: Back To The Future | AdExchanger
Enjoy this weekly comic from AdExchanger.com that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem …
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
@aripap's take on the nuts and bolts of a breaking up Google's adtech business. news.marketecture.tv/p/questions-...
news.marketecture.tv
Questions about a Google Break-Up
Winning in court was the easy part
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
@mozilla.org news: "Powered by advanced privacy-preserving machine learning, Anonym Private Audiences enables advertisers and platforms to work together using first-party data to create targeted audiences without ever handing their users’ information to one another." blog.mozilla.org/en/advertisi...
blog.mozilla.org
Ads performance, re-imagined. Now in beta: Anonym Private Audiences. | The Mozilla Blog
Together, Mozilla and Anonym are proving that effective advertising doesn’t have to come at the cost of user privacy. It’s possible to deliver both —
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Shared my thoughts on YouTube's 20th anniversary in this BU Today piece. YouTube has been a transformative platform for both advertisers and content creators. www.bu.edu/articles/202...
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60 Minutes @60minutes.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
And now, a note on Bill Owens who, until this past week, was the executive producer of 60 Minutes. We’ll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.
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Alex P. Miller @alexmiller.phd · 25/04/2025
Also a point also made by Jesse Eisenberg in A Real Pain
youtube.com
Digital Ads | A REAL PAIN
YouTube video by SearchlightPictures
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
@NAI recently released the report "Tailored advertising powers the robust digital media industry: benefiting small businesses, publishers, society and consumers" It nicely distills the benefits of tailored ads in 10 pages. 1/3
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Garrett Johnson @garjoh.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
For no particular reason, I'm re-upping my review of studies that calculate the value of browser cookies. Our 2020 Marketing Science paper contributes the median estimate: ad prices fall 52% without cookies.
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