Why is PulsePoint consent especially important for health publishers?

PulsePoint classifies health interests from page content. Visitors reading about specific conditions may be placed into health audience segments — data that may constitute special category health data under GDPR Article 9, raising stakes above standard ad tracking.

What cookies does PulsePoint set?

PulsePoint sets the mako_uid cookie (365-day, third-party) for persistent pseudonymous user identification, and the cwbh cookie for cross-site click attribution. Both are set before any ad interaction and require prior consent.

How does ConsentStack manage PulsePoint?

ConsentStack blocks all PulsePoint scripts by default and requires explicit marketing consent before loading them. Given PulsePoint's health-contextual targeting, ConsentStack's configuration can apply stricter consent prompts aligned with GDPR Article 9 health data requirements.

What tracker domains does Pulsepoint use?

ConsentStack has catalogued tracker domains for Pulsepoint including contextweb.com. These are the network destinations Pulsepoint's scripts contact, which a consent platform blocks until a visitor agrees.

Pulsepoint (contextweb.com) - Healthcare Ad Targeting & Consent Guide

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Overview

PulsePoint is a healthcare-focused programmatic advertising and content distribution platform that connects pharmaceutical brands, health systems, and wellness advertisers with relevant audiences across health-content websites. The platform operates a health-specific supply-side network and offers demand-side tools for programmatic buying, native content distribution, and prescription-lift measurement. PulsePoint is used by pharma brands, health agencies, and specialty health publishers.

What This Script Does

PulsePoint deploys JavaScript tags on both publisher (supply side) and advertiser (demand side) websites.

On publisher/health content sites:

The tag.js script (loaded from tag.contextweb.com) initializes the PulsePoint ad serving layer, making ad slot inventory available to demand-side buyers
Sets the mako_uid cookie (third-party, 365-day expiry) to assign a persistent pseudonymous user identifier for frequency capping and audience segmentation
Reads page content signals and URL metadata to build contextual health topic classifications (e.g., cardiology, oncology, diabetes) used for contextual ad targeting
Calls the PulsePoint ad auction endpoint to request a winning creative for each ad slot

On advertiser/conversion sites:

Fires a conversion pixel (typically a 1x1 transparent GIF or JS beacon to pixel.contextweb.com) on confirmation or thank-you pages
Transmits conversion event data — including campaign ID, order value, and user identifiers derived from the mako_uid cookie — back to PulsePoint for attribution reporting
May set or read the cwbh cookie (third-party, 365-day expiry) for cross-site click attribution

Health data sensitivity:

PulsePoint's contextual classification engine infers health interests from page content. A visitor reading articles about a specific condition could be classified into a health audience segment. Under GDPR Article 9, data that reveals health status is special category data — contextual inference based on health content visits may trigger this protection depending on the specific data linkage.

Consent & Compliance

Category: Marketing / Advertising
IAB TCF Purposes: Purpose 1 (Store/access information), Purpose 2 (Basic ads), Purpose 3 (Personalized ads), Purpose 4 (Ad measurement), Purpose 7 (Ad performance measurement) — requires vendor consent under TCF
GDPR: Requires explicit consent. Health-contextual targeting may involve inferred health data under Article 9, making extra caution warranted beyond standard ad tracking.
CCPA: Conversion tracking and audience targeting constitute personal information collection. Health-related targeting triggers sensitivity requirements under CPRA.
ePrivacy: Sets persistent third-party cookies for cross-site identification. Consent required before any script load.
EU-US transfers: PulsePoint (a Ziff Davis company) is a US entity. Data transfers rely on Standard Contractual Clauses.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Yes. PulsePoint is an advertising platform whose health-contextual targeting raises the stakes beyond standard ad tracking. The sensitivity of health interest data makes prior consent especially important. Block all PulsePoint scripts until explicit marketing consent is granted.

Is Pulsepoint GDPR compliant?

Pulsepoint typically loads marketing trackers, which are not strictly necessary for your site to work. Under the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, non-essential cookies and trackers must stay blocked until a visitor gives clear opt-in consent. So Pulsepoint can be fully GDPR compliant, but only if your site holds its scripts until consent is granted and lets visitors decline just as easily. Compliance depends on how your site loads Pulsepoint, not on Pulsepoint itself.

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Consent Categories

Marketing

Also Known As

PulsePointhealthcare advertisingpharma programmatichealth ad targetingcontextual health adsprogrammatic healthpharmaceutical ads

Industries

Marketing and AdvertisingBusiness and Consumer Services

Tracked Domains (1)

Pulsepoint's trackers are common, seen on about 6% of the sites ConsentStack has scanned. Scan your own site to see which of these are firing before consent.

contextweb.comMarketing

contextweb.com is a marketing domain operated by Pulsepoint, used to serve ads, build audiences, and measure ad conversions. Seen on about 6% of scanned sites.