Title: A longitudinal analysis of web surf history to maximise the effectiveness of behavioural targeting techniques

Authors: Jason K. Deane; Thomas Meuer; Jay M. Teets

Addresses: Department of Business Information Technology, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ' Department of Business Information Technology, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ' Department of Management, Marketing, and Resort Tourism, Wall College of Business Administration, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC 29528, USA

Abstract: Yearly revenue generation for the online advertising industry has increased exponentially from approximately $7 billion in 2001 to approximately $23 billion in 2008. This rapid growth in revenue has spawned a very competitive online advertisement publishing industry. Ad publishers are paid to deliver ads to potential online customers in an attempt to influence their buying patterns and purchasing decisions. Eager to gain market share, online advertisement publishers are constantly attempting to improve their ability to efficiently target ads to interested online consumers and web surfers. While analysing users| web surf history is one of the most popular methods of gaining this type of actionable information, the potential value of this information is unclear as one moves further back in time in analysing a user|s historical data. The purpose of this research is to gain insight into what time frame of a user|s surf history is useful. In this paper, we provide a detailed longitudinal application analysis of OAWSH, a powerful behavioural targeting technique, in an effort to determine the optimal range of web surfing time upon which organisations should base their advertisement targeting decisions.

Keywords: online advertising; behavioural targeting; electronic marketing; ontological analysis; e-marketing; web surf history; web surfing; internet advertising.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2011.043037

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2011 Vol.4 No.2/3, pp.117 - 128

Received: 02 Feb 2011
Accepted: 09 Feb 2011
Published online: 21 Oct 2014 *

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