Wednesday, July 29, 2009

ESPN Web Ads Go Local

Earlier today while browsing the largest sports website on the internet, ESPN.com I noticed something new, a regional advertisement next to a video story. As seen here-

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When I clicked the ad out of curiosity I was taken here-

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So what’s the big deal? Well for one ESPN.com hasn’t used contextual regional image ads in the past, most likely sorted and published by a quick glimpse at the incoming IP address of the visitor’s ISP.

This minor change helps to illustrate how large websites are becoming more visitor focused with specially tailored advertisements. If I was logging on to the same page from say, New York City, I highly doubt an ad for the upcoming South Carolina Gamecocks football season ticket packages would appear? One thing is for sure, this will help advertisers reach their target audience, and should increase overall conversation rates compared to non-geotargeted web display ads.

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