ChoiceStream

For advertisers on the Web, behavioral targeting is held out as the nirvana they’ve been waiting for. But for Google, reality may note match the expectation. According to estimates by Jim Brock, founder of PrivacyChoice, chairman of Attributor, and a former senior VP at Yahoo, only about 25% of AdSense sites are serving targeted ads, which Google calls “interest-based advertising.” Google started behavioral targeting last March. It tries to determine your interests by placing cookies in your browser and tracking what types of sites you visit. You can see what interest Google has assigned to you and even change your interests by visiting Google’s Ad Preference Manager. You can also opt out of the program entirely. Brock suspects Google’s interest-based ads aren’t working so great because Google doesn’t actually know most people’s interests. View full article