Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Specific Media Gets $100M; Is it the Next Tacoda?

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Specific Media, an online ad network, has reportedly raised $100 million in a round led by Franciso Partners. With a pre-money valuation reported at $200 million, several ad networks are lining up to be the next DoubleClick or Tacoda.

As VentureBeat reports, Specific Media’s point of appeal is supposedly its elite advertising options for premium networks, where only top brands can be involved. This works on the publisher’s end too, seeking out quality over quantity. For some brands, this approach is preferred over something like Glam’s ad network, which some advertisers feel has a few unattractive websites in the mix. While this usually won’t deter advertisers to a large extent, it’s clear that Specific Media is playing up the custom, high end approach to ad distribution.

Beyond it’s premium network approach, Specific Media offers behavioral ad targeting, based on a user’s cookies. It also uses a Demographic Prediction System that will make an educated guess towards an individual’s age and gender, based on web behavior. This is similar to AdInfuse, which has taken a similar approach to mobile advertising.

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