{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T09:45:48Z","timestamp":1777455948319,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":65,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,1]],"date-time":"2023-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1688169600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Big Data &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Digital advertising is central to the business models and technological affordances of digital platforms, creating marketplaces for user attention. Despite the keen theoretical attention to the commodification of audiences in critical new media and data studies, there has been little exploration of how digital marketing can also be understood as a methodological lens to study both controversies and the practices involved in the commodification of attention around the issues that animate such controversies. Addressing this gap in knowledge by drawing on the digital methods approach, this article proposes repurposing the tools, data and practices of digital marketing \u2013 what we coin digital marketing epistemology \u2013 as new methodological points of observation in controversy mapping. Focusing empirically on Google Ads, we scrutinize the building blocks of advertising campaigns on the platform and their metrics and measurements. We then offer a set of methodological \u2018recipes\u2019 for repurposing the Google Ads platform for controversy mapping and illustrate through a series of data sprints how this can contribute not only to a better understanding of the measurement and valuation practices that are involved in converting attention into a tradable asset but also the role these practices play in the unfolding of techno-social controversies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/20539517231216955","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,8]],"date-time":"2023-12-08T01:08:45Z","timestamp":1701997725000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Digital marketing as digital methods: Repurposing Google Ads for controversy mapping"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6306-4154","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"\u00d2scar","family":"Coromina","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising, Universitat Aut\u00f2noma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8006-401X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexei","family":"Tsinovoi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Media Studies and Journalism, Aarhus Universitet, Aarhus, Denmark"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5542-3065","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anders Kristian","family":"Munk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Culture and Learning, Aalborg Universitet, Copenhagen, Denmark"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Ahrefs (n.d.) Where do you get the data from? Available at: https:\/\/help.ahrefs.com\/en\/articles\/78119-where-do-you-get-the-data-from (accessed 24 February 2023)."},{"key":"bibr2-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Amanatidis A, \u015eanl\u0131 CT, Doyuran EB, et al. (2022) Web 3.0. Available at: https:\/\/wiki.digitalmethods.net\/Dmi\/WinterSchool2022Web3 (accessed 23 February 2023)."},{"key":"bibr3-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Anderson C (2008) The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete.\n                      Wired\n                      . Available at: https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2008\/06\/pb-theory\/ (accessed 23 February 2023)."},{"key":"bibr4-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Angwin J, Parris. T (2016) Facebook Lets Advertisers Exclude Users by Race. Available at: https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/facebook-lets-advertisers-exclude-users-by-race (accessed 17 August 2023)."},{"key":"bibr5-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-61619-9_10"},{"key":"bibr6-20539517231216955","volume-title":"Gephi: An Open Source Software for Exploring and Manipulating Networks","author":"Bastian M","year":"2009"},{"key":"bibr7-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/24701475.2018.1455412"},{"key":"bibr8-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s40493-014-0012-y"},{"key":"bibr9-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/20539517211017308"},{"key":"bibr10-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5210\/fm.v17i7.4070"},{"key":"bibr11-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.3097666"},{"key":"bibr12-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2019.1637447"},{"key":"bibr13-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cities.2023.104470"},{"key":"bibr14-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-954X.1998.tb03468.x"},{"key":"bibr15-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/j.ctv1mjqvf7"},{"issue":"19","key":"bibr16-20539517231216955","author":"Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS)","year":"2021","journal-title":"Revista Dise\u00f1a"},{"key":"bibr17-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Cr\u00e9pel M, Do S, Cointet J-P, et al. (2021) Mapping AI Issues in Media Through NLP Methods. In:\n                      CEUR Workshop Proceedings\n                      , Amsterdam, November 2021, pp. 77\u201391."},{"key":"bibr18-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/375348.376626"},{"key":"bibr19-20539517231216955","author":"Elgaard Jensen T","year":"2018","journal-title":"Obesity Reviews"},{"key":"bibr20-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1440783318811778"},{"key":"bibr21-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.14361\/dcs-2016-0203"},{"key":"bibr22-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5210\/fm.v2i4.519"},{"key":"bibr23-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Google Ads (n.d.a) 5 ways to use Quality Score to improve your performance - Google Ads Help. Available at: https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/6167130?sjid=3587829242222569323-EU (accessed 17 August 2023a)."},{"key":"bibr24-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Google Ads (n.d.b) About extensions - Google Ads Help. Available at: https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/2375499 (accessed 13 November 2021b)."},{"key":"bibr25-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Google Ads (n.d.c) About Quality Score - Google Ads Help. Available at: https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/6167118?hl=en (accessed 18 November 2021c)."},{"key":"bibr26-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Google Ads (n.d.d) Optimize your ads and landing pages - Google Ads Help. Available at: https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/6238826?hl=en (accessed 17 August 2023d)."},{"key":"bibr27-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Google Ads (n.d.e) Use Keyword Planner - Google Ads Help. Available at: https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/7337243?hl=en (accessed 17 August 2023e)."},{"key":"bibr101-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Google Ads (n.d.f) About the Google Search Network - Google Ads Help. Available at: https:\/\/support.google.com\/googleads\/answer\/1722047?sjid=10535591863958890720-EU (accessed 25 November 2023f)."},{"key":"bibr28-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Graham M, Elias J (2021) How Google\u2019s $150 billion advertising business works. Available at: https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/05\/18\/how-does-google-make-money-advertising-business-breakdown-html (accessed 23 February 2023)."},{"key":"bibr29-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444819856912"},{"key":"bibr30-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Hermanson T (2022) The by-no-means-definitive keyword size showdown: GSC vs. Ahrefs vs. Semrush vs. Moz. Available at: https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/keyword-size-gsc-ahrefs-semrush-moz-387980 (accessed 17 August 2023)."},{"key":"bibr31-20539517231216955","volume-title":"Virtual Methods\u202f: Issues in Social Research on the Internet","author":"Hine C","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr32-20539517231216955","volume-title":"Subprime Attention Crisis: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet. First edition. FSG Originals x Logic","author":"Hwang T","year":"2020"},{"key":"bibr33-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951714528481"},{"key":"bibr34-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1167742"},{"key":"bibr35-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0163443710394902"},{"key":"bibr36-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/20539517231191528"},{"key":"bibr37-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0162243915574602"},{"key":"bibr38-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-954X.12314"},{"key":"bibr39-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Munk AK, Abildgaard MS, Birkbak A, et al. (2016, July) (Re-) appropriating Instagram for social research: Three methods for studying obesogenic environments. In: Proceedings of the 7th 2016 International Conference on Social Media & Society, pp.1\u201310.","DOI":"10.1145\/2930971.2930991"},{"key":"bibr40-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/j.ctvc77mp9.34"},{"key":"bibr41-20539517231216955","volume-title":"Can Markets Solve Problems? An Empirical Inquiry into Neoliberalism in Action. Goldsmiths Press PERC series","author":"Neyland D","year":"2019"},{"key":"bibr42-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5117\/9789056295936"},{"key":"bibr43-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/8718.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr44-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118900772.etrds0076"},{"key":"bibr45-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/24701475.2017.1307542"},{"issue":"0","key":"bibr46-20539517231216955","first-page":"23","volume":"12","author":"Rogers R","year":"2018","journal-title":"International Journal of Communication"},{"key":"bibr47-20539517231216955","volume-title":"Doing Digital Methods","author":"Rogers R","year":"2019","edition":"1"},{"key":"bibr48-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/20539517211022370"},{"key":"bibr49-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118321607.ch8"},{"key":"bibr50-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0263276413484941"},{"key":"bibr51-20539517231216955","first-page":"37","volume-title":"Computers, Communications, and the Public Interest","author":"Simon HA","year":"1971"},{"issue":"3","key":"bibr52-20539517231216955","first-page":"1","volume":"1","author":"Smythe DW","year":"1977","journal-title":"CTheory"},{"key":"bibr53-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecoser.2014.07.004"},{"key":"bibr54-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5210\/fm.v25i5.10116"},{"key":"bibr55-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0002764213479369"},{"key":"bibr56-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0963662509102694"},{"key":"bibr57-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0963662510387558"},{"key":"bibr58-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951714543804"},{"key":"bibr59-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951717720949"},{"key":"bibr60-20539517231216955","unstructured":"Venturini T, Latour B (2010) The Social fabric: digital traces and quali-quantitative methods. In:\n                      Proceedings of Futur en Seine\n                      2009, Seine, 2010."},{"key":"bibr61-20539517231216955","volume-title":"Controversy Mapping: A Field Guide","author":"Venturini T","year":"2022"},{"key":"bibr62-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951716653418"},{"key":"bibr63-20539517231216955","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0309132509339841"},{"key":"bibr64-20539517231216955","volume-title":"The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power","author":"Zuboff S","year":"2019"}],"container-title":["Big Data &amp; Society"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/20539517231216955","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/20539517231216955","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/20539517231216955","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,28]],"date-time":"2026-04-28T13:00:38Z","timestamp":1777381238000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/20539517231216955"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,7]]},"references-count":65,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,7]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/20539517231216955"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/20539517231216955","relation":{},"ISSN":["2053-9517","2053-9517"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2053-9517","type":"print"},{"value":"2053-9517","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,7]]},"article-number":"20539517231216955"}}