It’s about time for Google to get in the behavioral targeting (BT) game. According to ComScore, Google has over 75% reach on the web so it only makes sense to offer targeting 2.0, BT. Being able to aggregate that level of data across their search and network, gives them a compelling arguement for giving a better slice of a user’s behavior, opposed to other networks with less reach, and less areas to pull cookie data from.
Smaller behavioral targeting firms sell or at least should sell based on their data collecting algorithms since most do not have the reach of a Google or Yahoo!. Google like PlatformA has a network, and has operated based on content/contextual channel targeting but now is integrating behavioral targeting technologies with the acquisition of DoubleClick (just as PlatformA acquired Tacoda). Pressure from the recession is affecting the online ad space, and with the amount of ad space inventory nearly limitless, smart marketers are looking for better ways of targeting their audiences outside of just content/contextual targeting.
It will be interesting to see how Google’s behavioral targeting solution competes with the likes of Audience Science (formerly Revenue Science), PlatformA (Tacoda), Specific Media, and others. There is no question they have the reach, and more data to aggregate together, but do they have the technology and algorithm behind the network to fuel true behavioral targeting? Time will tell.
Check out Ad Age’s Article at:
