NEW TECHNOLOGY LETS USERS CHOOSE ADVERTISING

By: Sarah J. Heim Consumers Would Pick 'Ad Channels'


Web surfers are used to being in control: They pick the content
they want to read, listen to the MP3s that suit their tastes, and
chat online with like-minded Netizens. But when it comes to
banner ads, consumers have had little say in the kinds of ads
delivered to them.

All this might change as San Francisco-based Zedo turns the ad-
serving model on its ear. Rather than collecting data on users'
behavior or making guesses about which ads might interest Web
surfers, the 4-month-old company is handing the ad-serving reins
to consumers.

"On the Internet, each person is in control of his or her own
destiny," said Zedo President and CEO Roy de Souza. "So we said
to ourselves, 'Let's ask the consumers what [ads] do they want?'"

Zedo's ad-serving technology runs on the client side, which means
that Zedo does not gather or store data about individual users
like ad-serving giants DoubleClick and Engage do. The company has
developed two products specifically for Web publishers,
edgeServing and selfTargeting.

EdgeServing is an ad-delivery infrastructure, whereas
selfTargeting is the technology that puts the consumer in the
driver's seat. SelfTargeting can be used with the edgeServing
infrastructure or with other existing ad-serving technologies.

When a user visits a selfTargeting-enabled site, a pop-up menu
asks the user to select an ad channel. These channels most often
consist of the publisher's most saleable inventory, such as ads
from the automotive, music, and electronics industries.

After a user picks one of the channels -- say automotive -- the
individual will then only see car ads. Along with giving the
power of selection to the user, selfTargeting also enables Web
sites that have high reach, yet a disparate user base -- such as
chat and news pages -- to pinpoint users' interests without
relying on complex cookie-based data.

Zedo recently signed a deal with the ezboard community Web site.
Earthlink and RealNetworks are currently testing the new product.



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