NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Is targeting a bad thing when everyone does it??
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Is targeting a bad thing when everyone does it??
Hespos, Tom (thespos_at_k2design.com)
Wed, 27 May 1998 21:20:22 -0400
I've been following this thread and have been dying to respond...
Targeting is evolving at an insane rate. It used to be that a media
buyer could target advertising only by certain basic criteria - mainly
by O/S or by simple profiles matched back to a user's IP address.
We're heading into a whole new world. Many sites have been very
successful selling ads targeted by the information collected during site
registration. Others are using behavioral targeting systems where user
behavior profiles are built and used to target future ads. I had a
sales rep come in recently who told me that the cookie dispensed by her
site correlates to a database profile that can potentially contain over
400 fields of information on a user.
All concerns about Big Brother aside, my point is that media planners
are going to be able to target ads reliably by all sorts of new
criteria. Those who want to buy based on demographics will be able to.
Others who want to target people in New York who have purchased
something on the Net in the past 30 days will probably be able to do
that as well. As the number of usable filtering criteria increases, the
likelihood that someone else's targeting profile will conflict directly
with yours will decrease.
For instance, if I want to buy only men for one of my products while
another advertiser wants to buy people who ordered a CD online in the
past 30 days, the two audiences are not mutually exclusive and there
won't likely be an inventory problem when both campaigns are running at
the same time.
Andy Bourland mentioned the effects of layering multiple targeting
filters in the buys on Microscope. During my stint on that site with
one of my buying clients, I was careful to avoid targeting overkill.
Microscope does all of its buys on the DoubleClick Network, which does a
lot of targeting based on IP address. The problem is, only a certain
percentage of IPs can be reasonably correlated to a user's geographic
location, corporate network, ISP, etc. If you start overlaying multiple
targeting criteria, the potential pool of available impressions shrinks
dramatically - mostly due to the number of unidentifiable IPs. This
problem should be minimized when adservers move away from IP-based
targeting and into the various cookie-based methods. (Happening quite a
bit these days.) The point is this: Identifying and profiling more of
a site's users leads to more available targeted inventory and the
ability to utilize multiple targeting criteria. This in turn leads to
more refined audience profiles for everyone and less of a chance that
one buyer's targeting profile is mutually exclusive of another's
profile.
The more targeted inventory available, the higher the revenue for site
publishers (the addition of targeting filters commands a higher CPM).
There will also be fewer tough-to-sell ROS impressions floating around.
Eventually, the emphasis will be on targeted inventory and ROS will
become less and less relevant.
What's the value of the leftover inventory after targeting filters have
tossed it aside? I say one man's trash is another's treasure. After
all, it might be used by another buyer purchasing on an entirely
different set of criteria. If not, I say throw it in the ROS bin, use
it for pre-emptible Cost Per Action campaigns or even give the stuff
away as bonus. No, it won't command a premium CPM, but that's the way
it goes...
Comments? Questions? Random cries of joy?
Thomas F. Hespos, Jr.
Media Manager, K2 Design
Webmaster, OLAF - the On Line Advertising Forum
Ph: (212) 301-8800
FAX: (212) 301-8801
http://www.k2design.com - K2 Design Home Page
http://www.olaf.net - OLAF
http://members.aol.com/~THespos - The Spos Zone
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