BTSC To Address Vital Industry Backbone
BTSC (Behavioral Targeting Standards Consortium) - The internet advertising industry is going through a massive shift in the delivery of targeted ads, and at the forefront of this change is the often misconstrued practice of behavioral targeting – or in other words, tailoring ads to consumers based on past surfing history.
The amount of coveted, contextually relevant inventory available in prime categories such as automotive, finance or health is limited and can only grow in small increments. However, internet advertising in these leading industries is out-pacing available placements, and therefore these page-based opportunities are becoming limited.
While it can be argued that ads on a contextually relevant page (i.e. a Ford ad placed on a Ford model overview page) are more valuable than other forms of targeting, studies that gauge campaign performance, as well as survey responses, have proven time and again that ads delivered to people after they have visited a contextually relevant page perform as good or better than ads in the contextual environment. In fact, more recent studies, namely from some of Jumpstart’s campaigns, found that communicating with consumers contextually and behaviorally improves all degrees of brand recognition and consideration than if either is executed independently.
As an industry we will reach a point in the near future in which more ads are delivered based on a previous behavior or behaviors than a page’s content. The reasons are simple:
- Publisher inventory availability, flexibility and efficiency
- Advertiser focus on a bucket of a certain type of consumer vs. a specific page, to realize efficiency in delivery of messages and optimal frequency
- Better consumer experience
In the background of all of this growth and development are government legislators pushing for our industry to guide the creation of privacy policies and best practices. The government’s door is being beaten down by uninformed privacy advocacy groups looking for concessions like “do not track” lists which could cripple the internet ad industry and what is to become the backbone of its success – behavioral tracking and technology.
It is obviously in our best interest as an industry to forge ahead and direct standards and practices for privacy and targeting guidelines, and provide the appropriate point of view for congress to make informed decisions. The Behavioral Targeting Standards Consortium (BTSC) was created to help address these very issues and to ensure that decisions are not made on our behalf by unapprised lawmakers. The BTSC was established to help set standards for behavioral targeting and drive development of universal terms.
As a committee member of the BTSC, the importance of establishing the criterion behind such a vital industry model is something that Jumpstart Automotive Media has been passionate about for many years. So for Jumpstart and myself, being a part of this organization was a given. We’ve developed and offered advanced targeting solutions for over three years and have evolved our products to meet the needs and demands of advertisers.
Our hope is that the BTSC can help establish the standards and criteria necessary for this industry to continue to thrive. We look forward to reporting on the progress.
Click here to see the associated press release.
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