• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, February 22, 2012

How is the Food Network making the best use of behavioral targeting? Beyond display, the Scripps unit recently leveraged its own email database, parsing through 3 months of behavioral data. From there, it indentified users with a soft spot for celebrity chef Paula Deen, and sent them targeted “tune-in” messages on the day of her show’s more recent season premiere.

The result? A 300% increase in average open rates, according to Jonah Spegman, Director of Digital Media Marketing at Scripps Networks. It was “a good use case for us,” said Spegman. It “showed that behavioral can work beyond just display.”

More broadly, combining third party data with first party data -- i.e., its own -- is working really well for FoodNetwork.com, noted Caryn Canfield, Digital Media Manager at Scripps Networks. Same goes for what she called “conscientious prospecting.”