What other metrics?
Well, that's a good question. And the answer is everyone's favorite: it depends.
One of the problems with targeting based on narrow data fed through assumptions about action is that your results are only as good as the initial assumptions. And the problem with knowing how good those assumptions are is that you can never really know how good they are. You can only assume they are or are not based on actions that may only appear to have anything to do with the assumptions made in the first place. The truth of the matter is that our results satisfy two, possibly more, logical fallacies: "appeal to belief" (the notion that because enough people believe something to be so, it is so) and "questionable cause" (to conclude that one thing causes another simply because the two are associated on a regular basis).
Another problem is transparency. A senior media executive at an agency best known for its powerful branding for major companies says, "My main concern with [behavioral targeting] is the lack of auditing. There needs to be a third-party auditing system that rates efficacy of claimed behavioral targets so that if I have three nets on my media, each one can have a score as to how well they delivered on those behaviors."
The point is: how do I know a certain profile is a certain profile?
And finally, there is the possibility of overtargeting versus under targeting.
The specificity of the "levers one can throw," as Eric Porres of Underscore puts it, or the lack thereof, can create problems.
"The problem is the age-old 'embarrassment of niches' problem," he says. "Get too granular and you give up reach. Get too broad and you give up specificity."
There is no doubt that BT as a tactic is going to be a major part of our online media planning and buying future. As the media executive from the brand-focused agency says, "Behavioral targeting will probably be very important to our media plans, and the major stake holders in internet advertising certainly think [it is here to stay]," as is evidenced by this year's consolidations.
But will it ever remove the "X" from the "X-factor" of advertising? Probably not.
