• by Tameka Kee , September 24, 2007

Revenue Science is set to offer behavioral targeting to mobile advertisers in Japan, partnering with KDDI's mediba and Digital Advertising Consortium (DAC)--two Tokyo-based firms--to make the option a reality this fall.

A division of Japanese telecommunications giant KDDI, mediba operates the company's "au one" mobile Web portal, and DAC is an interactive ad agency and network. Together with Revenue Science, the companies will serve ads based on mobile consumer behavior that runs the gamut from downloading ringtones and games, to visiting news sites, and even actual purchases made with the phone.

According to Bill Gossman, Revenue Science's CEO, it will be the first substantial implementation of mobile BT in Japan--a country that boasts a 78% mobile penetration rate, and a homogeneous network structure that has fostered both rapid adoption and blistering innovation on the mobile Web. "We chose Japan as our entry point because of the consistency of the networks and the massive user adoption," said Gossman.

Revenue Science has worked with DAC for more than two years, delivering Internet BT solutions for such brands as NIKKEI Digital Media and iMediaDrive, and Gossman added that KDDI had been interested in improving mobile ad targeting for some time.

"As mobile media consumption increases throughout the world and audiences become more fragmented, advertisers will need to reach users and the mobile device will be a key outlet for advertisers to sell their brand and their product," said Toshifumi Tsukada, mediba's CEO.

Gossman says Revenue Science will look at a number of metrics to determine the success of this first mobile BT effort--with raw volume as the key performance indicator, but conversion rates and creative evaluation will also factor into the mix. "I expect us to be in the billions of page views per month pretty quickly, if not out the gate," said Gossman. "Working with DAC and mediba creates a good platform to grow on, and we'll be able to learn what works very fast."

The behavioral targeting firm is keeping mum on the actual nuts and bolts of the mobile service--so there is no word on whether users will be tagged and tracked using mobile cookies or some other technology.

"The notion of a mobile cookie is somewhat ethereal, but it's a proprietary technology," said Gossman. "How the actual 'cookie-ing' takes place is part of the secret sauce." He did say that privacy standards for mobile BT are the same as for desktop BT. "They have to be just as airtight," said Gossman. "We collect no personally identifiable information, do a good job of protecting the data and provide a definite advantage to the consumer for the info that they're providing."

As for bringing mobile BT Stateside, Gossman was optimistic--pointing to some of the mobile Web developments currently taking place. "I think we're about a year away from launching in the U.S.," said Gossman. "We're moving toward more homogenized networks and increased 3G penetration--so the infrastructure is growing."