YuMe, AutoTrader.com Deal Offers Behavioral Targeting for Video Ads

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Ad network YuMe became the latest to offer its video advertisers behavioral targeting capabilities today thanks to a new deal with AutoTrader.com.

AutoTrader.com will be able to sell video ads on sites in YuMe’s video ad network -- extending the site's reach to all YuMe's publisher partners.

Behavioral targeting opportunities are hard to come by for video advertisers, partially because most video players can't be "tagged" the way display ads can. The AutoTrader.com deal was made possible thanks to a step forward in video technology that changed that, said Jayant Kadambi, co-founder and President of YuMe.

"What we figured out how to do is take third party data, keep it proprietary -- it's Auto Trader's data -- and apply it across our network through use of some software we've thrown into our partners' video players," he said.

YuMe is not the first to figure out how to apply behavioral targeting techniques to video ads. Last month, Hulu announced it had partnered with AudienceScience to enable behavioral targeting for its in-stream video ads.

It is no coincidence that YuMe struck this deal with one of the largest auto-shopping sites on the Web. Kadambi noted that the auto category -- despite its recent challenges -- is still a leader in video advertising.

"The spend is there," he said. "And given the state of the car industry now, and marketing that shows a return on investment and can show all key performance indicators going in the right direction will get more funds."

YuMe, which claims more than 500 publishers in its network and over 60 million unique viewers per month, anticipates forging similar deals with other publishers in its network soon, Kadambi said.

Correction: An earlier version of the story said YuMe would sell ad inventory on AutoTrader.com. It's actually the opposite. AutoTrader.com will be able to extend its inventory to YuMe sites.