
Tribune Interactive Partners with Tacoda
Systems to Provide Targeted Advertising Solutions to Marketers
Matching consumers and
advertisers through behavioral and geographic user information
CHICAGO, October 22, 2002 -- Tribune
Interactive, Inc., a leader in interactive news and information
Web sites and a subsidiary of Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB),
today announced that it has entered an agreement with Tacoda
Systems, Inc., a provider of data integration software and
audience management systems, that will enable Tribune Interactive
to provide targeted advertising opportunities to marketers
and provide premium editorial content to users. Through its
registration database and Tacoda’s technology, Tribune
Interactive will analyze its nearly 9 million unique visitors*
who visit its network of more than 50 news and information
Web sites monthly. That network includes chicagotribune.com,
latimes.com and newsday.com.
"The unique value of the Internet is that
it gives us the ability to target advertisers’ messages
directly to consumers," said Dana Hayes, vice president/sales
for Tribune’s online national sales team. "With
Tacoda’s technology, we can better understand who and
how people use our Web sites and then, in turn, offer advertisers
the ability to deliver specific marketing messages to specific
groups of consumers."
Through Tribune Interactive’s online
registration information and the Tacoda Audience Management
System, Tribune Interactive will analyze online audience demographic
and geographic information, behavioral patterns and traffic
trends of both registered and non-registered site users.
The data will help Tribune Interactive to better
qualify audience value to national and local advertisers and
create new types of targeted advertising products, such as
customer profile matching, affinity group and cross-channel
campaigns. In addition, it will help improve site programming
and marketing; identify heavy users and their interests; and
gain insight into the differences in traffic patterns between
in-market and out-of-market users. The data will also be a
resource to Web producers when developing premium editorial
and entertainment content based on audience interests.
" By tracking and recording site usage, including IP
address, Tribune Interactive can build profiles of users that
offer superior response to various marketers. Predictive customer
behavior models will target specific groups of users for specific
messages," says Dave Morgan, Tacoda Systems president.
"For example, a Tribune Interactive reader who actively
checks airfare, and lives in Los Angeles, is probably a superior
customer target for Southwest Airlines. The number of target
variables is infinite, but the medium can provide that kind
of qualification. Publishers who deliver qualified customers
to online advertisers will be rewarded for doing so."
Tribune Interactive will continue to safeguard
user privacy according to the privacy policies of its Web
sites.
*Data based on September 2002 Nielsen//NetRatings
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Tribune Interactive operates leading
interactive news and information Web sites in major markets
across the United States, including 18 of the top 30 markets.
The sites attract nearly 9 million unique visitors per month,
and rank among the top 20 interactive news/information networks
in the country.
Tacoda Systems is a New York City-based
enterprise software company that helps online publishers grow
their advertising and transactional revenues by profiling
and targeting the most valuable segments of their audiences.
Tacoda Systems manages consumer profiles built on prospect
interactions, not just customer transactions, thus providing
a cost-effective relationship management tool. By enabling
commerce and web content publishers to put a monetary value
on each site visitor, Tacoda Systems helps media companies
and the marketing industry begin automated marketing to audience
segments with the highest revenue potential. In addition to
Tribune Interactive, the company's customers include Forbes.com,
weather.com, CondeNet and Advance Internet.
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