Targeted Advertising on Friendster.com

Most forms of advertising try to be targeted but are only so to a limited extent:

• On newspapers, advertisers buy ads that appeal to just a subset of a newspapers' readership. At best, men's ads can be seen on the Sports pages, women's ads in the Lifestyle section. And everyone one wants the back covers for pure eyeball presence.
• On glossy mags, advertisers try to buy spots that are aligned to the magazine's target audience. Men's magazines for men, style magazines for women.
• On radio or TV, only surveys can tell you who is watching what. And cable TV viewership is too small to be meaningful.

The system hasn't fundamentally changed in over four decades. In the digital age, it's grossly inefficient. In every other format, brands pay for eyeballs that they don't necessarily want to hit.

INTELLIGENT ADVERTISING

In contrast, Friendster advertising is truly targeted. An advertiser can specify an age and gender range, and Friendster's ad delivery system ensures that only those users in its target market will see the ad.

For example, if Nike wants to run a campaign to "Males, Ages 18-24, who are interested in spectator sports", Nike's ads will only be seen when these users log in. No one else will see the ad except for those that Nike has identified as relevant to its message.

Parameters by which Friendster can target (Philippines-traffic only):

• Age
• Gender
• Internet connection
• Interest group
• Operating System
• Relationship Status

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR BRANDS?

Friendster can be as big or as small as you (or your budget) wants it to be.

If you're a huge FMCG consumer product with a multimillion peso monthly spend, Friendster has the volume to generate a meaningful population (in excess of a million people) for your message.

If you're a niche high-end product, Friendster can drill down to a targeted demographic, identify a small group of 50,000-some people, and deliver advertising there.

It also means that every impression you buy in a Friendster campaign is hitting the right audience. There are no wasted hits.

NEXT: Friendster Ad Pricing