Yahoo will launch its behavioral ad targeting service called SmartAds, with an attempt to mix ad targeting with user behavior on one side and ad creative databases on the other. The service allows advertisers to compile ads on the spot based on a Web user’s Internet profile, including such data as their location, recent product searches and, in some cases, age or household income, reports Reuters. The service will first roll out with two airline advertisers and then four different advertising segments by the end of the year. They will operate on Yahoo’s network as well as in its ad partnerships with eBay, major U.S. newspaper publishers and Comcast.
ClickZ: SmartAds makes heavy use of “customer insights” extracted from data Yahoo keeps on visitors, including their shopping, searching and Web surfing behaviors, as well as registration information and location data. The company is also pursuing a patent on the new system, though I’m sure the like of Tacoda and Revenue Science will argue otherwise.
NYT: The technology will also be applied for free across advertisements bought on Right Media, the online ad exchange that Yahoo purchased this spring, and is still pending regulatory clearance.