Google introduces targeted display ads on sites including YouTube

Google today took a major step into the controversial targeted advertising space market by introducing a global display advertising system on YouTube and other networks.

The programme means advertisers will focus their campaigns on users who have previously visited related sites, or who have expressed an interest in specific categories.


From today, users will not see more ads – but will see more personally relevant adverts on sites in Google's ad network including the New York Times, Reuters, Napster, ITN, AutoTrader and Rolling Stone.

Google said the scheme would reach 80% of the global online population and 32 million people each month in the UK alone.


Google emphasised that the service was targeted only by a temporary ID assigned to user's browser, known as a cookie.

It will not record visits to sites listed as sensitive by the European Union, which include finance, politics, religion, health, sexual orientation or pornography, and, because the cookie is related only to one browser, it is not attached to users' Google accounts such as email or documents that contain a user's name, address or personal information.

Google emphasised that every user will be able to opt out of the targeted ads by using an "ads preferences manager" by following a link from the search engine homepage

They can also select from 27 special interest categories including travel, news, sport, automotive and computing.

Because the preferences manager will be specific to each browser, users will need to update their options on every computer and browser they use.

Characterising the new beta service as an extension of its contextual 'AdsWords' programme, Google said the targeted ads would show across its content network.

The Google UK director, Mark Howe, said that despite the recession, online advertising was growing in the UK but that it was more important than ever to make it relevant.

"As a consumer watching TV I'd think that the only category I want to see is car insurance and meerkats - it's incessant and I can't turn it off. Why would you opt out when someone is offering really targeted advertising?" said Howe.

"What is well known is that advertisers are willing to pay a price to deliver the most relevant ads ... this opportunity gives a wider set of advertising opportunities to reach a wider audience in a better fashion and ultimately drive more revenues for publishers and advertisers."

Google would not say which advertisers or agencies would be the first to join the trial service, but said it would expand in the next few months and would include the entire AdSense and AdWords network by the end of the year.

Howe added that he was not aware of any plans to incorporate users' search histories into the tracking service, and said it could not predict how the service might affect pricing on the auction-based ad scheme. He emphasised that the opt-out and targeting options had been designed so that they were "easy for the layman to understand".

"What [ad targeting firm] Phorm didn't do was bring transparency, and there was no involvement for the user - it's the complete opposite here," said Howe. "The uniqueness of our programme is that it is based on interests and activity and that users have the ability to use the ad preferences manager to edit and control it."

Source: guardian.co.uk, March