Real Media is able to accomplish all this with software called Open Ad Stream, which functions as a virtual production manager at each online paper's server. When a Web surfer visits the Washington Post, for example, software in DC decides what ad is appropriate for the user, inserts it in the page as it loads and keeps track of the transaction. Interactive Imagination Developers of the Riddler gaming site. Each of these sites will receive customized versions of Riddler's games that will be co-branded and promoted on their sites. Riddler, for those that haven't visited, is a Web site that lets players compete for cash and prizes in various games of skill including multimedia trivia, crossword puzzles and scavenger hunts.
Prizes range from books to cars.
The idea is to collect lots of demographic data about the players and to serve it up to advertisers eager to flash their banners at target markets. Focalink Communications Focalink Communications offer a service called SmartBanner that takes in user data and displays a banner suited to each individual. It notes users internet domains and connects them to a location on the advertisers site specific to those domains. Should they click on the ad, they can be directed to a location on the company's site with information specific to the japanese market.