Industry Hones In On Behavioral Targets

By most estimates, behavioral targeting, or serving ads based on a consumer’s past Web site surfing behavior, will account for a mere fraction of the $8.4 billion that is projected to be spent on U.S. Internet advertising this year.

Despite the minimal outlay, the fledgling practice has gained recognition as properties like CBS MarketWatch, Reuters.com and iVillage have added such programs to their arsenals. And now, in an effort to maintain that momentum, Revenue Science and Tacoda Systems—vendors that supply behavioral-targeting services to sites—are arming publishers with information they claim makes it an easier sell to marketers.

“Behavioral targeting has got a lot of buzz; it’s got a lot of interest,” said Nate Elliott, an analyst at New York-based Jupiter Research.