The first Web banner ad ran in October 1994 for AT&T on Hot Wired. Now, a "new Web ad architecture is developing... to allow advertisers to show each ad only to the audience they want... fueled by vast amounts of Internet user data."
Advertisers can hook into a half dozen or more exchanges with a set price they are willing to pay for a particular audience -- i.e., that male 18-35 who is interested in traveling to Las Vegas... when a user arrives at a page... It trolls through the bids to find the best match for the user." Although "only a small portion of Web advertising goes through such systems" Forrester Research forecasts that 30 percent of online advertising will flow through such marketplaces by the end of 2010."
Google has "the DoubleClick Ad Exchange" while "Yahoo is retooling its Right Media ad exchange to offer real-time bidding. Microsoft is expected to launch its AdECN real-time exchange in the coming months."
These types of systems could soon hit a snag because "Industry leaders like the Interactive Advertising Bureau warn that regulators could soon put restrictions on how consumer information is collected and used in advertising."
Read more at AdWeek.
