Behavioral targeting has been around in the U.S. for several years now, gaining real momentum in the last two to three years as a standard marketing line item. We all know that behavioral targeting can help marketers, particularly during a distressed economy, by focusing ads on those browsers most likely to convert to buyers, thereby reducing waste and boosting sales. Thanks to proven success on this side of the Atlantic, European behavioral targeting adoption is beginning to catch up.
According to a recent Forrester study, behavioral targeting adoption has skyrocketed — it was used by just 10% of European advertisers surveyed in 2007, and grew to be used by 26% of those surveyed in 2008. The report also notes that BT is the fastest growing discipline in Europe. The legacy methods of targeting – demographic, geographic, and contextual – have been widely available for years; however EU marketers are realizing behavioral targeting can be their new secret weapon against competitors who are sticking with the old methods.
Forrester attributes the growth rates to wider availability of behavioral targeting vendors and solution providers in Europe. Many US companies, AudienceScience included, have opened an EU branch to bring their technology and services to these countries. We established our London office in January 2006 and have helped many large European publishers and networks embrace behavioral targeting over the years.
These numbers are really exciting as we examine growth projections for the industry on a global scale, especially factoring in the current global economic situation. Forrester's report also notes that "Not only did use of behavioral targeting grow quickly between 2007 and 2008, but 58% of European advertisers in the June 2008 online advertising survey say they are interested in using behavioral targeting in the next year." So we can expect an even larger surge in the European market next year, and the year after and the year after.
We're definitely just at the tip of the iceberg. As Forrester asserts, there are still many advancements the EU market must make in terms of audience discovery and segmenting to fully exploit all of behavioral targeting's capabilities. The US companies making their footprint there need to make the availability of audience segmenting solutions their top priority as they transition into the EU market. And the European-based vendors should follow suit.
