Google launches interest-based advertising

Google has launched interest-based advertising as a beta test on its partner sites and YouTube.

The ads will associate categories of interest, such as sports and gardening, with a user’s browser based on the kinds of sites they go on and pages they view.

“So if you visit an online sports store, you may later be shown ads on other websites offering you a discount on running shoes during that store’s upcoming sale,” explained Susan Wojcicki, vice-president of product management at Google.

According to the company, its publisher partners and advertisers have been requesting interest-based advertising for a long time.

Google believes marketers need an efficient way of getting to the audience that is interested in their offerings, while publishers can produce more revenue when they bring interested audiences into contact with advertisers.

Yahoo! recently unveiled a new product package, bringing together traditional search and display advertising formats.