How can you then find the other prospects for this video game, knowing that choosing sites based on contextual or demographic clues are not enough? Behavioral targeting now allows you to develop models of audiences who share similar characteristics, often multiple characteristics to your target audience. The main benefit of using this method is you can build large audience pools that are not constrained by absolutes, such as visiting content or being in a demographic, but that encompass more people who are good consumers. This is also a good technique because it allows you to reach consumers in a quieter context without the competition of other advertisers in your market.
Behavioral has another benefit as well. Insights from behavioral reporting can often help provide further information about the target consumer. As an example of a relevant behavioral segment, Tacoda offers a segment of people called "Electronics Shoppers." This audience is sizable -- 31.5 million people. They are more than twice as likely than the average internet user to visit mass market video game sites such as for GuitarHero.com. Most importantly, they spend money on video games, and they have a comScore Buying Power Index of 186. This number is significantly higher than the average internet user. They also buy mobile phones, music videos and sports equipment at high rates.
About a third of this audience is in the 18-34-year-old range, and while many fall outside that, the fact that they are repeat consumers of electronics identifies them as good prospects.
This audience also frequents social network sites such as Facebook and MySpace and is likely to spread the word about new electronics purchases. Knowing that this audience is always shopping for the latest must-have gadget, the video game maker can advertise to a group that may be more inclined to run out and get the game when it's released, increasing immediate sales rankings. Tacoda's segment is just an example of the kind of audiences behavioral targeting can deliver at scale.