Yahoo tests behavior-based content ads Yahoo has begun testing a program to show text listings on Web pages based on user behavior.In a pilot program with Revenue Science, a Bellevue, Wash., behavioral-targeting company, Yahoo's cost-per-click text ads are shown on Web pages using data collected by Revenue Science.
The program, which can be seen on www.dogster.com and www.catster.com, could represent a rival to Google's far-flung AdSense network, which displays ads on thousands of sites based on the content on the Web page. Revenue Science, in contrast, targets ads to consumer behavior.Omar Tawakol, Revenue Science's svp of marketing, said prior site behavior often yields better results than page content. "There's a big portion of the Web that's a contextual desert," he said. "There's a ton of sites on the Web like entertainment, blogging and social networking sites—all those sites are better served by focusing on the user, not what's on the page."
Tawakol declined to provide more information on the test or how Revenue Science collected the visitor data used to target the ads. He said early results of the program, which began in the spring, were "very encouraging."A Yahoo representative confirmed the test but declined further comment.The test comes weeks before Yahoo is expected to release its own AdSense-like contextual advertising network. Yahoo currently operates a small network, showing text ads on a handful of non-Yahoo sites like ESPN.com and Edmunds.com, in addition to the Yahoo portal. The Yahoo content network works similarly to AdSense, scanning a Web page for its context and then matching that to advertising.Several Web publishers, including WSJ.com and Reuters.com, use Revenue Science's software to display ads based on a visitor's prior site behavior. In April, the company launched a network that would allow advertisers to run behavioral-targeted brand advertising campaigns across several sites. It did not reveal which sites are participating in the network.Tawakol said the test is a complement to that effort, designed to bring the success Revenue Science has seen in behavioral targeting for brand advertisers to direct response marketers.
“We know we're on to something very interesting,” he said.Revenue Science rival Tacoda Systems last May released a behavioral-targeted text listings program. That effort, however, has been put on hold, according to Tacoda CEO Dave Morgan, who said the company is focused on building its graphical ad network."The greatest priority to us is delivering graphical banner ads for branding," he said, "because there's a lot more money available, we believe, over the next two years in that area."
