24/7 Media Launches Ad Serving System, Puts Profiling Plans on Hold

Ad firm 24/7 Media Monday launched
its Internet ad serving system, 24/7 Connect, but dropped plans to use
combined online and offline profile data to target ads for the system.

When the company first announced it was developing 24/7 Connect back in
November 1999, a company press release said it would offer “the first
global data repository capable of delivering targeted advertisements based
on a user’s online and offline profile.”

But now, in the wake of DoubleClick‘s decision to postpone
such merging of online and offline data, 24/7 is also stepping back from
its earlier plans.

“We wish to state emphatically that we have never merged anonymous
clickstream data with personally identifiable data, and we pledge not to do
so until our industry, working together with governmental agencies,
establishes standards in this regard,” said David Moore, chief executive
officer of 24/7 Media, in a statement released concurrently with
information about the 24/7 Connect launch.

The announcement by 24/7 Media highlights the fact that, although industry
leader DoubleClick has taken the majority of the heat for its privacy
practices, other advertising companies have plans to take similar steps.

The introduction of 24/7 Connect puts the company in the ad serving
technology business, where it has previously been using AdForce. 24/7 Media touts its new network
as featuring “next generation” technology not available in other ad serving
systems.

The new ad server is being offered on two platforms:
24/7 Connect for Networks, which will initially serve the 24/7 Media
network in the United States, and 24/7 Connect for Advertisers and
Publishers (formerly Sabela for Advertiser and Publishers), which is the
company’s third-party ad serving solution. The company expects to combine
the two platforms into a single solution for Web publishers later this year.

24/7 executives tout the system’s ability to serve ads across multiple
networks globally from a centralized data storage repository, a feature the
company believes will be important as companies seek to send a message
across international networks. 24/7 Connect for Networks also offers the
ability to integrate traditional online ad delivery with mail, sponsorship,
and local market components.

In conjunction with the launch of 24/7 Connect, the company also started
24/7 Media Technology Solutions, which will be headed by James Green,
previously chief executive officer of Sabela Media, which 24/7 acquired in
January. The new division will oversee the deployment, sales and support of
24/7 Connect and the e.merge technology platform, which enables the
delivery of broadband video programming over a variety of Internet-enabled
devices.