Articles by Phil All articles by Phil
- In-Stream BT: The Elephant In The Room in
Data and Targeting Insider on
05/27/2009
Over the past year the online video space has seen an explosion of new video content, new consumers of that content, and new advertising inventory. Ergo, theoretically at least, expanded content, plus users, plus inventory, SHOULD, by all measure, equal rich expansion of opportunities for behavioral targeting of in-stream video. In reality, that's not really been the case, at least not yet. Turning the video usage boom into a scalable targeting opportunity means the industry must seriously address one big elephant in the room, the lack of third-party ad serving for in-stream ads, Tod Sacerdoti, CEO of BrightRoll, explains below.
- Video Targeting: Simplifying The (Still) Too-Complex in
Data and Targeting Insider on
05/20/2009
If there's a consistent law of media history it's that, for advertising-supported content channels, simplicity is the key, the sine qua non, of survival. Online video is a lot of things, exciting and engaging certainly among them, but not, from an advertising point of view, very simple. The still far-from-completed challenge of online video -- if it wishes to become a truly integral branding channel (one really capable of commanding a solidly double-digit share of branding budgets) -- is to distill the still overly complex data generated by video usage online into a more transparently targetable channel.
- Smashing Optimization Silos in
Data and Targeting Insider on
05/13/2009
A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the often-prophesied friction-free online advertising ecosystem, the one where efficiency would equal ever-increasing value of inventory. While improvements in targeting technology have progressed rapidly, the value of display inventory has steadily, and steeply, declined overall. Indeed, so much so that it's become commonplace on the conference circuit to hear speculation on a permanent depression in display pricing, even for ostensibly "targeted" inventory. A big part of the problem is what might be called "optimization silos" that still exist in the online world among content optimization, behavioral targeting and creative optimization.
- Attribution Analytics Could be BT's Best Friend in
Data and Targeting Insider on
05/06/2009
The premise and big promise of online display advertising has been that it could ultimately free advertisers from the "blind spending" of traditional media. Unfortunately in actual practice measurement and accountability often open up more questions than answers for marketers, and create more confusion than clarity. Therein lies the current quandary of online advertising, at least on the brand and display side. Addressing this quandary is clearly going to be a pressing topic of the next few years, making the heretofore mostly esoteric topic of attribution analysis an increasingly hot-button one
- BT Blue in
Data and Targeting Insider on
04/29/2009
Ruben Kane, the entrepreneur behind the "Adult Dating" site/social network AdultSpace, believes that when it comes to deploying anonymous behavioral data to increase engagement and ad revenues for social media and mobile apps, adult entertainment may have something to teach the online ad industry.
- No More Banker's Hours: 24/7 Financial Targeting in
Data and Targeting Insider on
04/22/2009
It wasn't too long ago that the phrase "banker's hours" was still commonly used, referring to the fact that banks, which then routinely closed in mid-afternoon, hours before most Americans got out of work, didn't follow or need to follow the same schedule as the rest of us. That same sense of imperviousness extended beyond the clock to the ways banks interacted with and marketed to consumers. Though banks long ago gave up banker's hours, it's taken far longer for financial institutions to fully respond and adapt to changes in consumer behavior. Faced with a rapid influx of new competitors, banks no longer have a choice, says John Macaluso, Chief Technology Officer, Bank Solutions, at Fiserv.
- Game Time For Self-Regulation Advocacy in
Data and Targeting Insider on
04/15/2009
With online advertising, especially on the display side, struggling to keep its bearings in a shaky economic landscape, the role of behavioral data as a critical component of driving new efficiencies grows all the time. Yet, for all its strategic centrality in the long-term game plans of online players, the ultimate rules that will prevail for BT -- and by whom and how those rules will be imposed -- remain deeply uncertain. For that reason the stakes of any and all debates and decisions emerging in Congress this year on behavioral targeting could not be higher. It's clearly game time for advocates of industry self-regulation.
- BT Learns To 'Seize The Moment' in
Data and Targeting Insider on
04/08/2009
For better or worse, "Internet time" has replaced the far more leisurely "New York minute" as the reference point through which most of us experience, and act on, information, be it news, financial transactions, entertainment, business and even personal communications. As the prime movers of the Internet economy, online advertisers SHOULD in theory be at the very front of the curve in delivering customized real-time data. Yet, ironically, argues Paul Knegten, head of marketing at Dapper, most of the ads online consumers see, especially "re-targeted" ones, are delivered, if you will in the "rear-view mirror," reflecting yesterday's news.
- Filtering Out The Noise in
Data and Targeting Insider on
04/01/2009
Search has often, and deservedly, been praised as the gold standard of online ad efficiency, the central repository of the world's "database of intentions." Yet the fact remains that most of the best intention-signaling consumer behavior occurs outside the search context. The pursuit of getting at this behavioral data, and doing it at scale, has been the holy grail of behavioral marketing for some time. The question is how to distill rich, truly intent-based behavior from more generic behavioral data. It's this challenge ad network Adconion and intent-based data exchange BlueKai have taken on in a new partnership.
- Travel Targeting: Extending In-Market Reach in
Data and Targeting Insider on
03/25/2009
Most online verticals have evolved from an early emphasis on targeting media to a belated recognition of the importance of optimizing and personalizing on-site and "point of sale" content and experience. Travel marketing online has followed a somewhat different route until now, as Doug Miller, vice-president of global media solutions at Expedia, explains.
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