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NCS SERVICES PRIVACY STATEMENT

Last revised: July 2020

NC Ventures, LLC d/b/a NCS or NCSolutions is in the business of measuring, analyzing, segmenting, and optimizing advertising and marketing performance for our commercial customers (“Customers”) to help them understand the interaction between what U.S. consumers watch and what they buy, to better meet consumer needs.  We believe that consumers should be informed.  This NCS Services Privacy Statement (“Privacy Statement”) explains how we use, share, and protect the data that we obtain about consumers in connection with our commercial products and service offerings (the “Services”), which are further described in the “Use of Data/Services” section below.  This Privacy Statement also describes consumer choices and legal rights relating to how NCS uses data for its commercial products.

Please note that this Privacy Statement applies only to NCS’s processing of data in connection with the Services. To learn more about NCS’s processing of personal data collected via this website (https://www.ncsolutions.com/), please review our website privacy statement, which is available HERE.

Collection of Data/Data Source

NCS receives consumer packaged goods purchase data (which includes date of purchase, purchase location, UPC, units sold and spend data) and demographic information on U.S. households from third parties, including Nielsen, as well as offline consumer information from third party data providers (“Consumer Data”) to provide services to our Customers. NCS may also receive data from our Customers, website publishers and other third party service providers our Customers work with, including IP address, information which may be obtained from cookies, IDFA, and digital tags.

NCS uses a third party matching agent to link Consumer Data from our data providers about what households ‘watch’ and ‘buy’ that may relate to the same household.  This household level linkage allows NCS to connect and model pieces of information without receiving or using an individual’s or household’s name or address.

Use of Data/Services

NCS Segmentation Services:  We use Consumer Data to create segments, which are groupings of individuals or households that share demographics, interests, and preferences.  Our NCS audience segment services are used by our Customers for their own internal purposes, and to reach specific audiences to market and advertise their products and services on a variety of media (e.g. online, mobile, TV) without utilizing information directly identifiable to an individual household (like an address). We may use third party service providers to make our audience segments available to Customers.

NCS Measurement Services:  NCS measurement services help our Customers understand the effectiveness of their advertising content and return on media spend.  They are not used to place online ads.  To generate an NCS measurement we work with our Customers, their publishers, and/or our data providers to determine whether a media user encountered or engaged with a Customer’s advertisement.  In the online space, our Customers or third party data providers may use tags or similar technologies that are placed on advertising content to gather information about what content media users encounter.  We also work with third party service providers to obtain exposure data for other types of media and combine that exposure data with our Consumer Data in order to perform an NCS measurement.  NCS estimates advertising effectiveness using models built with Consumer Data and reports aggregated results.

This Privacy Statement does not apply or reflect the policies of any third party including matching providers, service providers, onboarding providers, or Customers.  You may refer to the privacy policies of each such party to determine their privacy practices, including notice and choice provisions.  Some of the services that we provide to a particular Customer may involve processing person, household or device level data from, or on behalf of, that Customer.  Any data processed on behalf of a Customer is subject to that particular Customer’s privacy policy and data sharing practices.

Disclosures and Transfers of Data

In connection with one or more of the purposes outlined above, we may disclose Consumer Data to:

  • our Customers, as outlined throughout this Privacy Statement;
  • our third-party service providers, including providers of the following services (among others): data analysis or processing; data security and storage; and product development (subject to binding contractual obligations of confidentiality and security);
  • marketing partners, onboarding vendors, services providers, or other third-parties (e.g. data management platforms, demand side platforms, etc.) that provide services to NCS and enable the activities described in this Privacy Statement;
  • relevant third parties as part of a corporate transaction, such as a reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceeding);
  • competent governmental and public authorities, in each case to comply with legal or regulatory obligations or requests or for the purposes of reporting any actual or suspected breach of applicable law; and
  • other third parties as we believe to be necessary (e.g., in order to protect the rights, property, operations, health, or safety of consumers, us, or others) or appropriate for legal purposes (e.g., in connection with claims, disputes, or litigation or in order to enforce our legal rights).

Some of these disclosures may constitute a “sale” under relevant laws. A “sale” typically occurs when we transfer data (including personal data such as users’ unique computer and device identifiers) to our Customers and partners so that they can use the information for their own business purposes. A sale does not occur when we share data with other companies that provide services to us. Users may opt out of data collection and use (including the sale of personal information) by following the instructions set forth in the Opt Out section below.

Data Integrity and Security

We have in place reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures that are designed to protect data from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, destruction, and other forms of unlawful processing while it is under our control. However, please be aware that the storage and transfer of data cannot always be one-hundred percent secure.

Data Retention

We store data for as long as needed for our services, research, and analyses purposes as described in this Privacy Statement and in accordance with law.

Privacy Standards and Code of Conduct

Even though our Services do not include operating consumer oriented websites, collecting personal information directly from individuals, or collecting information directly about browsing habits across websites, we request that our Customers adhere to the Network Advertising Initiative’s Code of Conduct and the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Principles, when using our data for personalized advertising or related services.  In addition, we strive to establish privacy standards and procedures as follows:

Our Customers, data providers, employees and vendors support our commitment to honor consumer privacy, confidentiality and Nielsen panelist integrity.

Our Customers, data providers, and matching/onboarding providers are contractually obligated to comply with applicable laws, including privacy laws governing data collection and use.

Our services are generated with aggregated or modeled data and subject to minimum sample or feasibility thresholds.

Your Legal Rights

NCS is committed to ensuring that individuals have reasonable access to their personal data and the ability to review and limit the use of such data in accordance with applicable law. It is important to note that NCS does not collect first-party data for use in its Services.

Depending on U.S. state of residence, under applicable law an individual may have the right to:

  • know what personal data is being collected;
  • know what personal data we disclosed or sold for a business purpose;
  • if personal data is being sold, or shared, and to whom;
  • know the business or commercial purpose for collecting and/or selling the personal data;
  • to object to the sale of personal information;
  • access the individual’s own personal information;
  • request that we update or correct their personal data (e.g., if it is inaccurate or incomplete);
  • withdraw consent provided for the processing of the individual personal data (where applicable); and
  • request the deletion of the individual’s personal data.

We will not discriminate against any individual who chooses to exercise any of the above-listed rights available to them under applicable law.

Individuals that are interested in exercising one or more of the rights described above can submit a request by contacting us at ncsprivacy@ncsolutions.com.

Because we want to avoid taking action regarding an individual’s personal data at the direction of someone other than the individual, only the individual (or, where applicable, a natural person or business entity that the individual has authorized to act on their behalf by providing written permission (an “Authorized Agent”)) may submit a request. Please note that we may deny a request from an Authorized Agent if they do not submit proof that they have been authorized by the individual to act on their behalf.

A request must:

  • provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify that they are the person about whom we have collected/obtained personal data (and, where applicable, the requester has been properly authorized to submit a request on the individual’s behalf); and
  • describe the request with sufficient detail that allows us to understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

We will not be able to respond to a request or disclose any personal data if we are not able to verify the individual’s identity (and, where applicable, an agent’s authority to make the request on the individual’s behalf) and confirm that the personal data that we hold relates to the individual. To verify an individual’s identity, we will match data that the individual (or an Authorized Agent) provides to any personal data that we already have in our possession.

Do Not Sell My Information

To learn more about online advertising and consumer choice please visit our “Do Not Sell My Info” page here.

NCS Site and Service Territory

The NCS Site and services are maintained in the United States and intended for use in the United States.  The NCS Site and services are not intended to subject NCS, its affiliates, agents, providers, or licensors to the laws or jurisdiction of any country or territory other than that of the United States.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

We may make changes to this Privacy Statement at any time and without notice. Any changes will be effective upon publication of the revised Privacy Statement.

Contact

Notices concerning this Services Privacy Statement should be directed to:

NC Ventures, LLC d/b/a NCS
675 Avenue of the Americas 3rd Floor
New York NY 10010
Attn: Privacy Officer
ncs.privacy@ncsolutions.com