MySpace Contemplates Targeted Ads

Less than a month ago, we learned that Facebook would let advertisers target members based on the information in their profiles.  MySpace is doing something similar, and it may greatly increase the social network’s revenues.

Brad Stone of The New York Times provided exact (estimated) figures.  “Executives at Fox Interactive Media . . .  say the tailoring technology has improved the likelihood that members will click on an ad by 80 percent on average,” he wrote.  In terms of dollar amounts, that could swell revenues from $40 million to $70 million per month.

The ad targeting system is still in testing, however, so implementation may be a ways off.

It’s possible that privacy issues could further delay matters – there’s always a concern when personal information is involved, and advertisers aren’t who MySpace members had in mind when making their profiles.  Or, as Jeff Chester, the Center for Digital Democracy’s executive director, said to Stone, “People should be able to congregate online with their friends without thinking that big brother, whether it is Rupert Murdoch or Mark Zuckerberg, are stealthily peering in.”

Still, with so much money at stake, expect to see MySpace’s targeted ad system go sailing ahead; MySpace needs something to help it stay ahead of Facebook’s continuing growth.

Hat tip to Clickety Clack.