Yahoo Debuts Behavioral Targeting

In my earlier post(Title:Yahoo!'s Smart Ads a Behavioral Targeting) I discussed that Y! kick started their beta testing on behavioral targeting which they call as Smart Ads.Now Y! Debuts this service to all its users.

With Smart Ads, Y! apart from just targeting a potential user based on web behavior patterns, also has the ability to dynamically customize the online ads, so the ad would get greater influential rate.So as to do this, the advertisers would provide various backgrounds, text and other materials of the ad.All this would be later uploaded on their ad server and set up made accordingly.

As a result of this, a potential user not only just sees a relatively advert according to his/her mind, but also an attractive ad. So, Y! firmly believes that this combination would soar their position in display advertisement segment.Furthermore, the beta test conducted on their Yahoo travel portal already proved success.

Yahoo!'s Smart Ads a Behavioral Targeting

First, a bite of what's Behavioral Targeting

Behavioral Targeting:It is the most advanced level of targeting, wherein a program would monitor users behavior and collects data, when the program reaches a sufficient data level, it would throw advertisements relevant to the collected data.(pros-Highly Targeted customers!!!)

Yahoo recently launched such a service which is a pancake for its customer which is known as SmartAds and currently doing its Beta trial.This innovative, Patent-Pending Ad Delivery Platform allows Marketers to Present Highly Targeted Online Display Ads in Real Time to Match a User's Distinctive, Expressed Interests.Todd Teresi, Yahoo’s senior vice president of display marketplaces said that the product will start in travel and is expected to expand by the end of the year to retail and automotive.

He adds an example

If a person looking for a sporting event in another city, a travel ad may pop up that provides the lowest rate from the user’s location to the destination city. For auto advertisers, Teresi says creative may include geographically relevant images with local dealer offer. He calls it a “template assetized approach,” stating, “All of a sudden, the ad experience becomes more relevant.”

As of now, SmartAds is being sold by direct sales, but may be made available through an auction-based system or an automated format. Teresi reported that during its testing period, SmartAds displayed a click-through rate that was two to three times higher than other traditional ads using target placements techniques.

I would greatly appreciate Y!'s effort to provide better ROI, but how the service would be priced? a premium based?