Yahoo! launches SmartAds

Yahoo! has launched SmartAds, a new display advertising product which allows marketers to display customised ads.

The product allows ads to be tailored to appeal to a targeted audience, based on age, gender, location and online activities.

Instead of one generic ad for all, surfers in London could be presented with a version displaying London based stockists for the product being advertised.

Even the background colours and logo could be tailored to appeal to the surfer’s gender and age range.

This type of advertising is known as ‘behavioural targeting’ and is designed to generate a more direct response than just branding.

Yahoo! SmartAds utilises Yahoo’s demographic, geographic and behavioural targeting functions and combines them with a new patent-pending creative ad assembly platform.

This allows customised ads to be created in real-time.
Yahoo! is currently testing SmartAds on its network and on affiliated sites, including major airlines and travel aggregators.

When Yahoo! has completed its purchase of online ad provider Right Media, SmartAds will also be displayed on Right Media’s advertising network.