INMA_A01.QXD

4 To follow users’ behaviour. Behavioural ad targetingis all about relevance – dynamically

serving relevant content, messaging or ad which matches the interests of a site visitor

according to inferences about their characteristics. These inferences are made by

anonymously tracking the different types of pages visited by a site user during a single

visit to a site or across multiple sessions. Other aspects of the environment used by

the visitor can also be determined, such as their location, browser and operating

system. For example, FT.com using software from Revenue Science can identify users

in eight segments: Business Education, Institutional Investor, Information

Technology, Luxury and Consumer, Management, Personal Finance, Travel and

Private Equity. The targeting process is shown in Figure 8.19. First the ad serving

system detects whether the visitor is in the target audience (media optimisation),

then creative optimisation occurs to serve the best ad for the viewer type.

Interactive ad formats

As well as the classic 468 
60 rotating GIF banner ad which is decreasing in popularity,

media owners now provide a choice of larger, richer formats which web users are more

likely to notice. Research has shown that message association and awareness building

are much higher for flash-based ads, rich-media ads and larger-format rectangles (multi-

purpose units, MPUs) and skyscrapers. View the rich media ads at http://www.eyeblaster.com

or http://www.tangozebra.comand you will agree that they definitely can’t be ignored.

Other online ad terms you will hear include ‘interstitials’ (intermediate adverts before

another page appears); and the more common ‘overlays’ (formerly more often known as

‘superstitials’ or ‘overts’) that appear above content and of course ‘pop-up windows’ that are

now less widely used because of their intrusion. Online advertisers face a constant battle

with users who deploy pop-up blockers or less commonly ad-blocking software, but they

will persist in using rich-media formats where they generate the largest response.

CHAPTER 8· INTERACTIVE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Figure 8.19Behavioural ad targeting process

Source: Twin London (www.twinlondon.com)

Media

optimisation

Show ad?

Creative

optimisation

Viewer

Does viewer

match profile

cluster?

X

Reporting,

analysis and progressive

optimisation

SmartServe

or 3rd party

Which ad?

NO

Impression

is accepted

Best ad for

viewer is picked

Best ad is delivered to viewer

Impression is passed

back to the publisher

Interstitial ads
Ads that appear
between one page and
the next.

Overlay
Typically an animated
ad that moves around
the page and is
superimposed on the
web site content.

Behavioural ad
targeting
Enables an advertiser
to target ads at a visitor
as they move
elsewhere on the site
or return to the site,
thus increasing the
frequency or number of
impressions served to
an individual in the
target market.