Targeting Smackdown: Behavioral vs. Contextual

  • May 12, 2009
As online shopping becomes a greater force each year, the behavior of online shoppers becomes more and more scrutinized. Ad net AudienceScience, a key scrutinizer, announced today the findings of a commissioned study conducted on its behalf by JupiterResearch designed to measure the receptiveness of online shoppers to behavioral targeting.

And the survey says: They like it -- at least that they are more responsive to ads that are behaviorally targeted than those that are contextually targeted. And they were pretty clear about it, with 65 % responding that they are more receptive to BT, and only 35% saying they paid more attention to contextual ads.

"Since its inception, behavioral targeting has been an evolution of contextual advertising, and these findings are testament to its power to more effectively engage with consumers on their own level," said Marla R. Schimke, VP of Marketing, AudienceScience. "If we conduct the same study in a year, five years, ten years, I believe we'll see this already substantial gap between the two continue to widen as more and more brands and marketers realize that they can use behavioral targeting to specifically target their ideal customer."

1 comment about "Targeting Smackdown: Behavioral vs. Contextual".
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  1. Dana Todd from SRVR LLC, May 14, 2009 at 12:37 p.m.

    I'd like to see more detail on this research study: how many respondents, was it observed behavior or were the participants asked about their preferences? And, did they understand what behavioral targeting is? What was the language used to ask them about it?

    Considering that BT is still really in its infancy as far as fully covering the globe of publishers and users, I'm not sure how important the discussion really is at this point.

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