DoubleClick delivers local ads
DoubleClick Local will make use of functions built into the company's Dynamic Advertising Reporting Targeting system (DART) to determine a user's geographical location. The company hopes to grab part of the local display advertising market, which is to reach $1.5 billion by 2002 according to estimates from Jupiter Communications.
Targeting audiences
"(DoubleClick Local) combines the geotargeting capabilities of DART with the reach of a premium collection of Web sites," said DoubleClick CEO Kevin O'Connor. "Advertisers can target a local audience across a national brand -- this is like television and spot radio."
Presently, if a local retail outlet or community organization wants to catch the eyes of Net users in its area, the best option is to buy banners on a locally oriented site, such as the city guides from Microsoft or CitySearch, or a local paper's Web version.
But observers said advertisers also need to be able to reach geographically targeted audiences over the heavily trafficked, national sites.
"It's going to fill a need because there are lots of local media organizations that don't know how to grab onto the Internet," said Venon Keenan, an analyst with Zona Research. "This could be a way for local radio stations, television, and newspapers to carry their existing ad contacts into the Internet."
The targeted service is expected to account for a relatively small part of DoubleClick's business at first. O'Connor said the audience for localized advertising is about 15 million users per month currently; by comparison, DoubleClick served up about 81 million ads per day during June.
No registration
DART determines the location of a user from his or her IP address; no registration information is involved. DoubleClick has amassed a database correlating the IP addresses of Internet service providers around the country to their physical locations, or, in the case of national ISPs, mapping out the location of the various points of presence.
O'Connor admitted that users do not always dial a local number to reach their ISP, but said the POP is local over 70 percent of the time.