Behavioral Advertising..

Advertisers are now trying even harder to reach there correct target audience, by a new method called Behavioral Targeting. I first noticed this when i went onto 4od.co.uk to watch up on this weeks Desperate Housewives. There were two main advertisements on the page, one for a new Diary Milk chocolate bar, and another to win a trip to a spa. Being female both adverts immediately grabbed my attention, which made me wonder how strategically they had been placed there. After all, with Desperate Housewives main audience being female there is no doubt it would be mostly women visiting this particular page. 

After doing some research, I found that this was defined as being a "type of advertising whereby advertisements are placed so as to reach consumers based on various traits such as demographics, purchase history, or observed behaviour." Web browsers now have the ability to follow users behaviour by the searches they have made and the pages they have visited, so it is easier to target the correct audiences. For example, if you were to search for "Houses for Sale" more than once, then mortgage companies may start targeting adverts at you. In this instance, the only personal information used to target you with these ads was strictly the fact that you viewed real estate ads.

Studies have shown that conversions are higher when people are targeted through behavior rather than content because behavior can determine a person's actions. Whether it is looking at specific sections of an online newspaper or visiting a certain type of site more than once, those actions are used to determine each user's interests. And it is those actions that make conversions.

There are many advantages to this kind of advertising. The advertising companies save money as adverts are not wasted on uninterested audiences, and the audience see related  products and services. However, there are some concerns about privacy, but this method does not use any personal or confidential information, therefore should cause no threat to the public. 

I think that behavioural advertising is fast and effect, and as an audience member i think it is the most efficient way of being shown products and services that i would be interested in.