Skip to main content

Behavioral Targeting vs. Contextual Targeting

In a ClickZ News commentary, Joan Voight shared some interesting statistics about the proven benefits of behavioral targeting. Clearly, online marketing success isn't just a matter of quantity (sites with the most visitors), quality is also a key factor (sites with relevant visitors).

Niche sites are also grabbing a bigger piece of the pie. Automakers are spreading their ad dollars across more online platforms and smaller sites, said Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine in a forecast this month. Category leader GM, for example, is placing online ads in a greater variety of portal and lifestyle sites than in 2004-2005.

"Site selection is driven by relevance -- be it content or behavioral -- and the ability to drive the metrics that matter most to GM's business," said Kurt Unkel, director of data and analytics at GM Planworks. "That has and may continue to lead GM to advertise on sites that don't necessarily pop to the top for total traffic or some other traditional reach metric."

Suzuki finds that behavioral marketing on small lifestyle sites delivers dealer leads and branding benefits at a reasonable cost. Mass-market TV ads position the brand as active and free-spirited and the online work reinforces that image by sponsoring and appearing on sports enthusiast and similar lifestyle sites. "Rather than a frontal assault we prefer to pick off specific targets," said Harris. "We slice and dice the research on online users and find our target in plenty of places."

The numbers back him up. Among auto advertisers who use Jumpstart's ad network, conversion rates are 40 to 100 percent higher with behavioral targeting than contextual targeting, said Joe Kyriakoza, VP of product development. It seems the move away from putting ads only on major portals and car-related sites is only beginning. With the Internet turning the car-buying process upside down, online campaigns that use behavioral targeting "look like a light on the horizon," says eMarketer senior analyst, Lisa Phillips.

Popular posts from this blog

Global Digital Business and IT Consulting Outlook

Across the globe, CEOs and their leadership teams continue to seek information and guidance about planned Digital Transformation initiatives and the most effective enterprise organization change management practices. Worldwide IT and Business Services revenue will grow from $1.13 trillion in 2022 to $1.2 trillion in 2023 -- that's a 5.7 percent year-over-year growth, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The mid-term to long-term outlook for the market has also increased -- the five-year CAGR is forecast at 5.2 percent, compared to the previous 4.9 percent. Digital Sevices & Consulting Market Development IDC has raised the growth projection despite a weak economic outlook, because of vendor performances across 2022, growth indicators from adjacent markets, increased government funding, and inflation impacts. The actual 2022 market growth was 6.7 percent (in constant currency), which was 87 basis points higher than forecast last year, alth

Open Banking Usage to Grow by 470 Percent

The Open Banking business model has been advantageous for Third-Party Providers (TPPs), helping them to extend their offerings into other areas of financial services with new capabilities. Open Banking is also advantageous for traditional banking institutions, despite the perceived loss of custodianship over their data, by providing greater accessibility to more bank services. Furthermore, Open Banking can help serve Mobile Internet providers that are able to leverage it to create tailored services according to customers’ preferences and/or economic limitations. Open Banking Market Development Since traditional banking services are made more convenient by TPPs via greater data access, customers can proactively manage their finances and shape the development of new financial offerings. This is particularly noticeable in the realm of Digital Payments, where retail merchants and customers transact through eCommerce, which has the greatest number of use cases for Open Banking. These includ

Why Instant Issuance Payment Cards Evolved

The global financial services sector continues to grow as more progressive organizations seek to gain a meaningful competitive advantage from their digital transformation initiatives. Across the globe, many regions are seeing a significant rise in 'instant issuance' activity from a physical and digital perspective, from both traditional and emerging innovative banking institutions. Digital Payments Market Development Customers increasingly demand instant access to banking services, with physical instant issuance enabling them to leave their branch equipped with a ready-to-go payment card. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, the market for instantly issued physical payment cards will increase from 243.2 million shipments in 2022 to a forecast of 471.1 million in 2027. "Critically, instant issuance of payment cards is no longer limited to the physical," said Sam Gazeley, industry analyst at ABI Research . Indeed, the growing digitization of p