Hence, visitors will see lots of advertising that is of little interest to them. Such difficulties are exacerbated by the gap between theory and reality in defining target audiences. Marketers need to understand not only a consumer's browsing and shopping habits, which computer technology can track, but also such simple personal details as age, income and address, which it cannot. This explains the Internet firms current interest in boring old direct marketing, which is based on collecting names and addresses, postcodes and credit histories. In June, for instance, DoubleClick bought Abacus Direct, which collects lists of people who shop from catalogues and is as old-fashioned as direct marketing gets.
Some websites instead try to obtain personal information by allying themselves with consumers.
Nat Goldhaber, Cybergold s chief executive, says consumers understand that advertisers subsidise content. We make that contract explicit. If you are really going to pay attention to my message, I will pay you a real cash reward. AllAdvantage , meanwhile, pays people for advertisements they do not even have to look at. Like a chain letter, members also get paid smaller amounts for every hour watched by someone they recruit, and a cut from their recruits in turn, for up to four links in the chain.