Agencies: Targeting Boosts Display Spend.

Audience targeting is under fire from consumers, advocacy groups and legislators. Advertisers are spending bigger bucks on targeted campaigns, but brands remain wary of rousing consumers’ ire and growth is limited because of uncertainty about rules and regulations that could be passed soon.

The benefits of targeting are clear, according to an online study of 500 agencies, publishers and advertisers by AudienceScience and DM2PRO. More than 60% of agencies were able to boost client display ad budgets because targeted ads are more effective, justifying greater dollars.

Main Reason Their Clients

Publishers benefit, too, from higher ad prices, the ability to deliver better ROI for advertisers and selling more inventory.

And advertisers, in return for those higher CPMs, get ads delivered to the right audience at the right time.

Still, agencies, advertisers and publishers alike are concerned about the possibility of legislation in the area. Most are not in favor of government action; the majority of advertisers and publishers and about one-half of agencies believe the most effective way to protect consumer privacy is through industry self-regulation. Fewer than one-third of respondents thought Federal Trade Commission regulations would be better, and under 10% were impressed with the idea of congressional legislation.

But respondents seem to be paying lip service to the idea of industry self-regulation. The plurality of agencies, publishers and advertisers were unfamiliar with the major Interactive Advertising Bureau’s “Data Usage and Control Primer” initiative, and many who did know about it were indifferent.

What’s more, most said they did not have any plans to implement the IAB/NAI information icon designed for targeted campaigns. More than 70% of agencies said they would not implement it, either because they were unaware of the icon or disapproved of it, along with 65% of advertisers and 62% of publishers.

As the online privacy bill of Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) looms large, and critics in the advertising industry complain that it would stifle spending, many of the players are still not ready to take the plunge and self-regulate effectively.

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