Around the Net

Imagine: MySpace As Ad Network

  • Reuters, Wednesday, November 28, 2007 11 AM
Fox Interactive Media, News Corp.'s Internet division that oversees the social network MySpace, announced a plan to sell advertising across its online network with the ultimate goal of allowing other media companies to join.

"We're well down the path in terms of discussions with some of the other News Corp properties to do ad serving," FIM CEO Ross Levinsohn said. "Ultimately, we'll take the company off network and become an ad network for assets outside of the News Corporation empire." The plan could take effect as early as the first half 2008.

In effect, News Corp. wants to pool its massive data bank of information with other publishers so that everyone can sell more targeted and more expensive advertising. Information that FIM sites -- MySpace, IGN.com, RottenTomatoes.com -- and other publishers collect about user behavior will be accessible to advertisers across a broader network. With so-called "hypertargeting" now available on MySpace, which currently reels in a whopping 72 million uniques per month, advertisers would be able to leverage social network data in targeting other publishers' sites. Which means you can expect many publishers to join, as News Corp. sites collect some of the most highly personalized data on the Web.

Read the whole story at Reuters »

Next story loading loading..