Why so many Tracking Companies?

[zcoot]

I went on the homepage of Tom's Hardware today using Firefox 21 today to read an article. I looked in the corner of my screen to the "do not track me" plug-in I have and it said there were 18 tracking companies!

I was surprised that we would have so many on this website, especially when we do discuss network security.

Would anyone care to explain all the tracking companies?

 

[USAFRet]

Would anyone care to explain all the tracking companies?

$$$$

 

[aldan]

Would anyone care to explain all the tracking companies?

$$$$

ditto.first time noticing this?

 

[randomizer]

Different companies provide different analytics insights. Larger websites like this can't rely solely on Google Analytics if they want to get a rich understanding of what content visitors are interested in.

Some are probably just cookies from the ads as well.

 

[zcoot]

Just saying 18 is way more than most websites, even in the same field.

When I said care to explain I probably said that the wrong way, I understood why there would be some.

 

[jpishgar]

Randomizer is right - a lot of those are metrics to help us better understand our audience. It helps us determine whether or not you are reading the cloud computing stuff as opposed to the motherboard benchmarks, and assists in guiding our content production schedules.

 

[mactronix]

As I have posted on another thread it seems that these are causing me issues so I have started using Ghostery to block them again.

Mac