Online campaigns: Study compares environmental placement with behavioral targeting

The approach of so-called "behavioral targeting", which refers to the targeting of specific user groups based on the analysis of their online behavior, is becoming increasingly important for the advertising industry. While advertisers are hoping that this new method will above all reduce the previously frequent and unpleasantly costly misdirection of their messages, there is as yet insufficient evidence of the benefits of this advertising strategy. "Targeting technology works just as well as the traditional method of placing ads in the environment. In terms of advertising impact and advertising recall performance on the Internet, our research results have not revealed any significant differences between the two methods," states Kathrin Oberreither, co-author of a joint study by the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences and Fastbridge, in an interview with Pressetext. For a final assessment of the effectiveness of the targeting concept, however, important empirical values from practice are still necessary.
"Behavioral targeting is a form of behavioral advertising in which the specific surfing behavior of a user is analyzed in order to show them targeted advertising," explains Oberreither. This is also the main difference to the conventional approach of environment placement, which merely attempts to increase the efficiency of advertisements by positioning them in a thematically appropriate environment. "Although the targeting method has been around for some time now, it has not yet really established itself on the market. The main reasons for this are the relatively high technical and financial costs involved," explains Oberreither. However, the expert is convinced that this approach will be used more often in the future. "In Austria, it has only been possible to place customized advertising in isolated cases so far. However, the example of Germany shows that there is still a lot of potential in this respect, where numerous such offers can already be observed due to the size of the media landscape there," emphasizes Oberreither.