• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, September 10, 2015

Quantcast has expanded the use of search data to assist marketers in targeting consumers with display and video advertisements.

The platform, Search Powered Audiences, uses keyword and intent signals to create lookalike modeling that identifies potential customers based on specific characteristics.

Quantcast identifies search intent signals found in keywords to target display or video advertisements that generate demand early in the decision-making process as consumers search for information. It forecasts intent by using anonymous data that monitors the movement and interest of people in the United States, for example, who venture online multiple times daily more than 600 times monthly on average. The ads serve on publisher sites.

Jag Duggal, VP of product at Quantcast, agrees that Magnetic, and Chango serve ads based on search retargeting, but says Quantcast uses audience lookalike modeling. The technology is similar to what Oracle gained from the BlueKai acquisition.  

This upper- and middle-funnel strategy aims to leverage search intent signal, typically used at the bottom of the marketing funnel, to reach what the ad industry calls "lookalike audiences." These "lookalike audiences" capitalize on similar characteristics of consumers who show intent just prior to making a purchase.

Conquesting -- the act of taking market share from a competitor -- also fits into the list of potential ways to use this platform, according to Duggal. Internal measurements estimate 26% of brands using the platform can increase awareness with new customers, and 20% say they see an increase in brand favorability among competitive customers.

Part of that increase relies on automation allowing marketers to focus on strategic planning like keyword selection, and testing and learning. Duggal agrees that the level of knowledge required to make programmatic ad serving completely automated will come in time. "Humans will drive the oversight and leave the tactical moving of information to machines and automation," he said, explaining how the company will create automation for advertisers. "Tying the systems into the broader supply chain will take much longer, so when you advertise a product, you start manufacturing it in anticipation."

The online advertising industry will complete the manufacturing supply chain. Eventually, ad-buying and serving systems will tie together all aspects of the advertising industry -- and one day, integrate with the manufacturing supply chains at companies like General Motors and Ford that have linked inventory auto replenishment with customer relationship management systems and call centers.