• by Tameka Kee , February 11, 2008

IAC's CEO Peter Horan is going against the tide. The business of media is still about getting mass reach--even online--he says. And behavioral targeting is the way to make that mass reach more effective. "Media is not a personal sales business. It's not about cold calling or one-on-one messaging. This is about advertising, which means delivering a message broadly to a number of clients for advertisers."

To that end, Horan says that publishers shouldn't be afraid to break down the barriers between content and advertising. If each is labeled properly, then users don't mind seeing an ad for cheap American Airlines flights alongside an article about airline seats or airline food. (They'll actually like it).

So at IAC, they're working on developing content, community and commerce all on the same page -- moving closer to "intent driven media" that's beneficial for advertisers and users alike.

I don't know about you, but I think we still need to keep church and state separate in journalism. Of course we should run targeted ads -- I bet if you look at the banner above this post, it's related to BT ads, or a BT firm, or something related to online advertising. But it in no way influenced the blog post I chose to write. And I think it needs to stay that way.