Commentary

“The Longest Running Show On This Subject”

That’s the way OMMA Behavioral emcee and programming chair Steve Smith kicked things off this morning, reminding attendees how far we’ve come in a relatively short period of time.

In fact, it was in 2006, during MediaPost’s first OMMA Behavioral conference, that AOL announced its acquisition of Tacoda, a move that likely sparked a gold rush of a new generation of behavioral targeting entrepreneurs.

Smith, who also pens MediaPost’s Behavioral Insider column, noted that whenever he interviews today and the myriad of companies specializing in behavioral, that, “Many of those people started in those first companies: Blue Lithium, Revenue Science (now Audience Science) and Tacoda.”

Smith said that many of the tenants being exploited today, began in the original DNA of those pioneers, and he quoted Revenue Science Founder Bill Gossman as saying, “Were selling people, not pages.”

Based on some stats cited by Smith, there are an awful lot of people being sold now. According to eMarketer projections, behaviorally targeted advertising will surpass the $1 billion mark this year.

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