Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Contextual vs Behavior Targeting

An Eye Tracking study designed and analyzed by Next Century Media was carried out by PreTesting and TACODA.
That study shows that Behavioral Targeting averages 17% more Ad Looks than Contextual Targeting, and this average increases to 54% more Ad Looks after the first exposure.
In other words, as frequency builds, the same ad increasingly gets filtered out in the Contextual environment, but apparently as a result of surprise, the level of Ad Looking stays up in Behavioral.

The first Eye Tracking study ever conducted comparing Behavioral Targeting to Contextual Targeting finds that, on average, the same ads receive +17% more Looks when seen in unrelated-content sites, than when seen in sites specializing in the sale of those types of products.

After the first exposure, this +17% advantage for Behavioral over Contextual Targeting increases dramatically to +54%.

The fact that Behavioral Targeting, unlike Contextual Targeting, tends to build with frequency, suggests that there is a Surprise effect and that it does not wear out, and because of this repeat Surprise effect, the ad is given more chances to engage the user.

you can view the full report at

TACODA conducted primary research to identify the demographics and behaviors of online 'heavy clickers.'
Who are the "Natural Born Clickers" and what is "the Invisible Hand" ?

The invisible hand is a metaphor coined by the economist Adam Smith to illustrate how those who follow their individual self-interests inadvertently stimulate the economy and assist society as a whole. There has been an invisible hand (or set of hands) that through self-interest have guided the development of online advertising, stimulated it through their innate curiosity and sometimes impulsive natures. This is the tale of a group of people who have had a profound impact on our lives as media planners and buyers. We've never known who they are or where they come from. We just knew that they were there, invisible, hiding within the numbers that make up our campaign report

you can view the video presentation and download the report at