New tools help online ads hit the target

NEWS Digital Media (NDM) has launced a two-pronged strategy to improve its advertising service, coinciding with News Ltd announcing a special creative book to boost sales in the print side of the business.

NDM’s Audience Targeting and Contextual Targeting tools are “two powerful advertising targeting initiatives created to help advertisers connect with their target audience”, the online publisher said in a statement.

Audience Targeting tracks a reader’s browser history to segment them into categories that are useful to advertisers, such as ‘health conscious’, ‘parents’, ‘small businesses’ and ‘media savvy’.

NDM would work with advertisers to develop more segments as demand dictated, the company said.

Contextual Targeting relates advertising to the content it would appear in conjunction with. Advertisers can target desirable readers by nominating certain meta data – background information within articles and other content such as key words and headlines.

A hybrid car manufacturer could primarily appear next to articles about global warming and climate change, for example. Alternatively, the tool could be used in an exclusive application, such as preventing a car ad from appearing next to any stories about car accidents.

Tags: news digital media, Online advertising, targeted advertising