Ad targeting / ad targeting

What is ad targeting / ad targeting?
Ad targeting is an advertising technique in which ads are placed in specific areas of the screen to increase visibility and 'clickability' or to create tailored ads based on the user's previous behavior and preferences. Targeted advertisements are designed to reach specific customers based on demographics, psychographics, behavior and other second-order activities that are typically exhausted by data generated by the users themselves.

Ad targeting is also known as targeted advertising.

When targeting ads, ads are automatically displayed using special software and algorithms that are used to serve ads based on user data. The most commonly used method of targeting is behavioral targeting because it anonymously monitors the online activities of the user and tracks the content consumed by the user. All of this data is monitored and analyzed to predict behavior patterns and provide the most appropriate indications for that user. Alternative methods are context targeting, audience targeting, and psychographic targeting.

Methods include:

- Context targeting
- Placement targeting
- Interest-based targeting
- Orientation towards languages

Ad targeting was set to generate 2.7 times the revenue than non-targeted ads. This was the result of a study carried out by the Network Advertising Initiative in 2009.

The benefits of ad targeting are that the ads are more useful, meaningful to users, and perceived as less annoying. It also enables companies to eliminate wasted advertising and only serve ads to those who are likely to endorse their product or service.