C4 and Emap set to employ behavioural targeting

recent Emap/C4 joint venture into music television.

The deals will see Emap's consumer division and Channel 4's online
offerings use the technology across their portfolios, paying Revenue
Science on a pay-per-usage basis. The firm inked a similar deal with Sky
last month.

While Revenue Science runs behavioural targeting on sites for newspapers
such as The Sun and the Financial Times, Emap is the first magazine
company to use this technology in the UK. Emap Consumer digital sales
director Bruce Daisley claimed that the use of behavioural targeting
techniques was a massive growth area. "It allows us to get the right
ads, at the right time to the right people," he said.

C4's group commercial manager for new media sales, Ed Couchman, said
that he was attracted to Revenue Science's ability to provide
information that would allow brands to strategically advertise on sites
within the broadcaster's portal that might not be a direct match, but
are proven to attract a similar segment of users.

Privacy campaigners have raised concern about companies' power to gather
and withhold consumer information, and earlier this month such concerns
prompted Google to announce that it would auto delete its cookies (tiny
files stored on a computer when a user visits a website) after a period
of two years.

While Revenue Science uses cookie technology, Mason said that, as a
member of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), it follows strict
standards protecting users' privacy. "(As a member of the NAI) one of
the stipulations for joining is that you give the consumer the chance to
request that you don't use their data. This privacy policy is stated on
our clients' websites."

C4's Couchman added: "One of the reasons we went with Revenue Science is
that it offered the best methodology and protection."