As social networks can use data and social graph shared by users, Interests Targeting is one of the biggest advantages for advertisers. Facebook Interests Targeting, launched in 2011, is still hitting headlines and Twitter ‘s just launched its own. Smart AdServer also proposes Interests Targeting solution to help publishers increase campaign performances and better monetize their Web or mobile inventory. Let’s find out more about this valuable targeting feature.
First, what exactly is Interests Targeting ?
Interests Targeting enables to define and target specific audience segments. Audience segments, based on IAB categories, are permanently fed by user profiles as they browse site content, making it possible to target a specific audience on any page of the site (or site network) whatever the content. It allows publishers to gain a qualified, targetable audience base while improving the relevance and maximizing the performance of their campaigns. On the other hand, Advertisers can reach the focused audience, more likely to be interested in their products & services.
How does Interest targeting work?
User information is collected as they browse sites to create precise, constantly evolving profiles. These profiles are then grouped into categories such as Style & Fashion, Automotive, Technology & Computing, Food & Drink, Travel, News… Advertisers can then retarget these categories.
Concrete publisher use case : better allocating campaigns on the inventory
Interests Targeting can be very useful for a publisher facing unequal allocation of its ad inventory, missallocated between overbooked supports// underbooked supports.
In the following example, the content support 1 is overbooked, the A-Campaign is not fully served, meaning the audience is not fully monetized. On the opposite, only the B-campaign is running on content support 2, but with a low fill rate.
Thanks to interests targeting, the exceeding impressions of the A-campaign can be served on the content support 2 to relevant users, improving its fill rate, whereas the B-campaign is running the same as usual.
Interests Targeting is very valuable in the following situations
- Ad networks with a bunch of attractive channels but running low valuable campaigns on most of their channels, by general rotation;
- Networks with very focused and attractive niche sites but in lack of a global package;
- Multichannel portals with the same gap between a couple of emblematic channels and the others;
- For exceptional occasions (such as Euro 2012 or Olympics 2012), interests targeting enables to sell a larger interested audience for branding campaigns.
Why is Interests Targeting an advertising breakthrough ?
Advertisers can:
- Buy optimal ad spaces using a better qualified audience
- Reach only their selected audience, regardless of the editorial content. Regarding Publishers, their ad inventory is better allocated and better control prevent overbooking.
**User personal data is not collected.
