Could Gov't Privacy Restrictions Lead to Growth in Behavioral Targeting?

[JohnMack]

Source: eMarketer
Industry responses to government could boost behavioral targeting spending

With the effective mixing and mining of audience data becoming increasingly important to online advertisers, the role of behavioral targeting has grown more central.

eMarketer estimates online advertisers in the US will spend more than $1.1 billion on behaviorally targeted advertising. By 2014, spending will hit $2.6 billion. The estimate represents steady growth rates of about 20% from 2009 through 2014.




The figures include spending on online ads displayed to a select audience whose interests or intentions are revealed by Website or ISP tracking data, audience segmentation or predictive analysis.

Behaviorally targeted ad dollars will rise as a proportion of online display spending from 14.2% in 2010 to nearly 20% by 2014, when ads targeted based on interests or intentions will account for 7.6% of total US online ad spending.




However, with ad targeting and privacy issues in the public eye, marketers face the possibility of regulation or legislation that sets boundaries on how they can use audience data.

While that warning might imply lesser spending growth than estimated, it could also make for a more stable market with clarified rules.

“A more open deal between the two sides, the ad industry and consumers, could help draw more ad dollars to behavioral targeting,” said eMarketer senior analyst David Hallerman. “In that case, traditional brand marketers would be less concerned about giving a black eye to their brand image through what some consumers see as privacy violations from behavioral targeting.

“And many consumers would wind up more educated about the essential anonymity of behavioral targeting and therefore could more readily accept such ad targeting in exchange for free content,” Mr. Hallerman said.