The big question in ad targeting is whether the future has been worth it.
While advertisers in the past ran ads for cars next to automotive content, in the modern practice of audience targeting, advertisers direct ads at users based on their behavior, demographics and location. It’s the difference between running an ad for a new model of BMW on an automotive site, or showing it on many kinds of sites to users whose attributes indicate they’re in the market for a luxury car.
A new report from contextual ad firm GumGum, Contextual Advertising: The New Frontier (free, registration required), indicates that more U.S. advertisers use content-based or contextual advertising than employ targeted ads. However, they’re rediscovering the virtues of ads matching the surrounding content.
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