Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Adware's second act | CNET News.com:
"By Stefanie Olsen - Staff Writer, CNET News.com
About nine months ago, newly hired WhenU CEO Bill Day decided he was going to clean up his company's reputation.
WhenU, a 5-year-old, so-called adware company that makes its money by selling targeted advertising delivered to PCs via software that's sometimes unknowingly downloaded by Web surfers, was becoming persona non grata with people tired of unsolicited pop-up ads...
Besides avoiding legal entanglements, there's huge potential upside to going legit. Large adware makers are jockeying for a bigger piece of online advertising, which has rebounded in recent years and is expected to net sales between $10 billion and $12 billion this year. Right now researchers estimate that the adware business is worth $500 million annually.
Thanks to their close ties to consumer desktops, some adware execs believe they've cultivated expertise in behavioral advertising, or the practice of watching an individual's surfing patterns and serving them related ads in real time. For example, if a user has visited several car sites in the last two days, the software might display a promotion for Cars.com or the Kelley Blue Book.
That's got the attention of major Internet outfits such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. The Net giants are laying the foundation for desktop and behavioral advertising, introducing downloadable software for PC and Web search, as well as personalized search engines. Microsoft has been in talks to buy Claria, according to sources, but the software giant reportedly has reservations about an acquisition because of the company's reputation..."
"By Stefanie Olsen - Staff Writer, CNET News.com
About nine months ago, newly hired WhenU CEO Bill Day decided he was going to clean up his company's reputation.
WhenU, a 5-year-old, so-called adware company that makes its money by selling targeted advertising delivered to PCs via software that's sometimes unknowingly downloaded by Web surfers, was becoming persona non grata with people tired of unsolicited pop-up ads...
Besides avoiding legal entanglements, there's huge potential upside to going legit. Large adware makers are jockeying for a bigger piece of online advertising, which has rebounded in recent years and is expected to net sales between $10 billion and $12 billion this year. Right now researchers estimate that the adware business is worth $500 million annually.
Thanks to their close ties to consumer desktops, some adware execs believe they've cultivated expertise in behavioral advertising, or the practice of watching an individual's surfing patterns and serving them related ads in real time. For example, if a user has visited several car sites in the last two days, the software might display a promotion for Cars.com or the Kelley Blue Book.
That's got the attention of major Internet outfits such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. The Net giants are laying the foundation for desktop and behavioral advertising, introducing downloadable software for PC and Web search, as well as personalized search engines. Microsoft has been in talks to buy Claria, according to sources, but the software giant reportedly has reservations about an acquisition because of the company's reputation..."
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