Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how BCM International, LLC (doing business as “MediAds”) (“MediAds,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information in connection with our programmatic healthcare advertising network and related services (the “Services”).

MediAds partners with website owners, content publishers, and app developers (“Publishers”) to deliver advertising on their digital properties, and with advertisers and demand partners to serve that advertising. This Policy applies to personal information we process as part of these advertising activities, including information collected from visitors to Publisher properties where MediAds technology is present.

1. Who We Are

MediAds is a programmatic healthcare advertising network operated by BCM International, LLC. We provide monetization solutions to Publishers and audience access to advertisers, with a focus on endemic advertising to healthcare professionals (HCPs). For the personal information described in this Policy, the data controller (or “business,” where that term applies) is BCM International, LLC, DBA MediAds.

You can reach us regarding privacy at any time at [email protected]. Our locations are listed under Contact Us.

2. Scope of This Policy

This Policy covers personal information processed through MediAds advertising technology, including when it is deployed on Publisher websites and apps. It does not govern the independent privacy practices of our Publishers, advertisers, or data partners, each of which maintains its own privacy policy. Where MediAds acts on behalf of a Publisher, that Publisher may be a joint or independent controller of certain information under applicable law.

Links in this Policy to third-party sites and tools are provided for convenience; we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those third parties.

3. Information We Collect

When advertising is served through MediAds, we and our partners may collect the following categories of information, typically through cookies, tags, pixels, software development kits, and similar technologies, or as provided by the Publisher:

• Device and technical information — IP address, device type, operating system type and version, web browser type, and language preferences.
• Online identifiers — advertising identifiers, unique IDs, and cookie identifiers used to recognize a browser or device across requests.
• Usage and advertising data — pages and content viewed, ads served and interacted with, referral sources, approximate (IP-derived) location, and similar interaction data used to deliver and measure advertising.
• Contact identifiers in hashed form — where a Publisher provides them for logged-in users, hashed (irreversibly transformed) versions of an email address, mobile number, or professional identifier. See Healthcare Professional (HCP) Data.
• Consent and privacy signals — your consent choices, opt-out signals (including Global Privacy Control where supported), and the consent strings generated by the consent management platform on participating sites.

We do not ask you to provide sensitive personal information to receive advertising, and we do not knowingly collect more information than is needed for the purposes described in this Policy.

4. Healthcare Professional (HCP) Data

MediAds specializes in advertising directed to healthcare professionals. To help our demand partners recognize an HCP and deliver more relevant advertising, a Publisher that operates a gated (logged-in) HCP portal may provide certain identifiers to MediAds in hashed form only.

In these cases:

• The Publisher computes a one-way SHA-256 hash of the identifier (such as an email address, mobile number, or professional identifier) on its own servers, at the time the HCP logs in.
• MediAds and its partners receive only the hashed value — not the raw email, phone number, or identifier.
• A non-sensitive specialization value (for example, “Internal Medicine”) and a consent indicator may also be provided to support relevant advertising and to reflect the visitor’s consent status.
• This data is provided only for visitors who have passed through the applicable consent requirements, and is not provided when a visitor has opted out.

Hashing is a privacy-protective measure: it allows advertising matching without exposing a professional’s plain-text contact details. We treat these hashed identifiers as personal information and apply the choices and rights described in this Policy to them.

5. How We Use Information

We use the information described above to:

• Serve, deliver, and render advertising on Publisher properties;
• Select and personalize advertising, including interest-based and HCP-relevant advertising, where permitted by your choices;
• Measure and report on advertising performance, including impressions, viewability, and interactions;
• Prevent fraud, invalid traffic, and abuse, and maintain the security and integrity of the Services;
• Operate, maintain, and improve our advertising technology and reporting; and
• Comply with legal obligations and honor privacy choices and signals.

6. Legal Bases (EU/UK)

Where the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation applies, we rely on the following legal bases:

• Consent — for storing or accessing information on your device and for personalized (interest-based) advertising and related measurement, obtained through the consent management platform presented on participating sites under the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework;
• Legitimate interests — for limited purposes such as security, fraud prevention, and basic, non-personalized ad delivery and aggregate measurement, balanced against your rights and interests; and
• Legal obligation — where processing is necessary to comply with applicable law.

You may withdraw consent at any time; see Your Choices and Controls.

7. Cookies & Similar Technologies

A cookie is a small text file placed on your device by a web server that allows a website to remember information about your browsing activity. First-party cookies are set by the site you are visiting; third-party cookies are set by domains other than the one you are visiting. MediAds and our partners may use cookies, tags, beacons, pixels, and similar technologies to deliver and measure advertising and to recognize a browser or device.

Disabling cookies may limit certain content or features on a site, and rejecting cookies does not remove advertising — it results in advertising that is not personalized. You can manage cookies through your browser settings and through the choices described below.

8. How We Share Information

We share information in the following ways:

• Demand partners and advertisers — to request bids for, select, and serve advertising, including HCP-focused demand partners who receive the data described in this Policy (including hashed identifiers, where provided).
• Publishers — our Publisher partners, in connection with advertising delivered on their properties and related reporting.
• Service providers — vendors that provide hosting, measurement, fraud prevention, and similar services on our behalf, under contractual obligations to protect the information.
• Consent and identity frameworks — participants in industry frameworks (such as the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework and Global Privacy Platform) that process consent and privacy signals.
• Legal and corporate — where required by law, to protect rights and safety, or in connection with a corporate transaction such as a merger or acquisition.

Depending on your jurisdiction, some of this sharing for advertising may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information. You can opt out as described below.

For more information about our advertising and demand partners, see our Advertising Partners page.

9. Your Choices and Controls

You have several ways to control advertising privacy:

• “Your Privacy Choices” link — on participating U.S. sites, use this link to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information and of targeted advertising.
• Global Privacy Control (GPC) — where supported, we honor the GPC browser signal as a valid opt-out of sale/sharing. If your browser or extension sends GPC, your opt-out is applied automatically.
• EU/UK consent banner — on participating EU/UK sites, use the consent banner to grant or withdraw consent and to set your preferences.
• Industry opt-outs — manage interest-based advertising at youradchoices.com (Digital Advertising Alliance) and similar programs.
• Browser and device settings — you can block or delete cookies and reset advertising identifiers through your browser or device settings.

Opt-out choices are generally stored on the specific browser or device where you make them. If you clear cookies or use a different browser or device, you may need to set your choices again.

10. U.S. State Privacy Rights

Depending on your state of residence (including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Virginia, and others), you may have the right to:

Because much of the information processed for advertising is not directly identifying, we may be unable to associate a request with a specific individual without additional information; in some cases the most effective control is the opt-out described above. To make a request, contact us at [email protected]. You may use an authorized agent where permitted by law.

11. EU/UK Privacy Rights

If you are in the EU or UK, you have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, and object to processing of your personal information, and the right to data portability, in each case subject to applicable law. You also have the right to withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing carried out before withdrawal. To exercise these rights, contact us at [email protected].

12. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we handle your personal information, we encourage you to contact us first at [email protected] so we can try to resolve it. If you are in the EU or UK and remain dissatisfied, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO); in the EU, it is the supervisory authority in your country of residence, place of work, or where the alleged infringement occurred.

13. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Policy, including to deliver and measure advertising, to prevent fraud and abuse, and to comply with our legal obligations and resolve disputes. Retention periods vary depending on the type of data, the purpose for which it is processed, and applicable legal requirements. When information is no longer needed, we take steps to delete it or render it no longer associated with you.

14. Security

We maintain technical and organizational measures designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

15. International Data Transfers

MediAds operates in the United Kingdom and the United States and works with global partners. Your personal information may be transferred to, and processed in, countries other than the one in which you reside, including the United States. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards (such as Standard Contractual Clauses) for transfers of personal information out of the EU/UK.

16. Children’s Privacy

Our Services are directed to healthcare professionals and the general audiences of our Publishers, not to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children, and we do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of individuals under the age at which such protections apply in their jurisdiction.

17. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. When we do, we will revise the effective date above and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically.

18. Contact Us