When it comes to ad targeting most people feel that they need to turn to the big players like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Twitter and others. These platforms collect huge amounts of data from their users, which can then be used to help put the right ads in front of the right people. This is a proven system that has helped make these companies billions of dollars in ad revenue.
Unfortunately, due to the need to collect such huge amounts of data it has also largely left smaller companies unable to compete with this type of service. The UK based affiliate network Skimlinks, however, is looking to change that with an innovative new service they are calling, “Audiences by Skimlinks.”
Skimlinks has just launched this system which allows publishers to sign up for the program and be compensated through a revenue share program. Once signed up, publishers and merchants will feed Skimlinks with the data they are able to collect about the visitors to their sites (whether organically or through ads). This data is made anonymous so there are no privacy issues.
Once the data is provided, Skimlinks will compile and aggregate it with the data from other publishers. This data can then be fed to affiliate marketers and other advertisers who are looking to use it for ad targeting and marketing efforts.
The system currently has data from about 55,000 online publishers including major names like Time Inc and Huffington Post. They also gather data from approximately 20,000 different merchants. The data sources are anything from very small sites to some of the biggest on the net today, which gives this system a very accurate picture of what users are actually doing.
The internal tracking information used in the earlier stages of this service have produced conversion lifts of as much as 50 times compared to ads run without any targeting.
The bottom line is if this system performs even close to the way Skimlinks predicts from their own testing, it will allow them to provide advertising with extremely targeted ads similar to those from the major ad networks today. In addition to becoming a real competitor in the ad industry, it also gives publishers and merchants a new potential revenue stream since they will be compensated for the data that they contribute to the system. The more data they are able to provide, the more money they can make.
It is still early on in the system, but there is clearly a lot of potential here. Whether you’re a publisher, an advertiser, a merchant or just someone interested in the industry, this is definitely a story to keep a close eye on in the coming months.
