The Mind of Alex

If you had access to endless servers of data on millions of websites, you might have an insight or two on where the people are that a specific advertiser wants to reach. Quantcast is betting that it can do it, and scale across a variety of sites around the internet. Today in a major press release, the company announced the launch of its “Media Program,” which apparently is “connecting planning and buying to deliver custom addressable audiences.” Quite ambitious.

Startup Quantcast, backed by 25 million in funding was probably looking for a creative way to apply their constant influx of data, and pull some dollars from it. What they have built is quite impressive, if you are not familiar with the Quantcast system, it tracks visitors to individual websites, and further breaks them down by age, gender, etc, giving you a detailed and open view of a websites audience. Advertisers that need reach just a slice of the world are going to be willing to pay top dollar to find their niche, and Quantcast knows where that is.

Insert functional business model here.

Assuming that Quantcast can successfully link websites to advertisers, then we might see a new powerhouse emerge. Information is power, and Quantcast is holding a lot ammunition. It makes you wonder why Compete is tracking such a different data set. Why not meet Quantcast head to head here?