Microsoft sends online advertisers back to the drawing board

A new sideswipe from Microsoft towards Google has been reported today. Apparently the new Internet Explorer (no 8) allows users to fly below the online targeting radar using an ‘InPrivate mode’.

 

This means that targeting services using cookies simply won’t work – every time an ‘InPrivate’ user visits a website they are effectively a new and unknown entity effectively destroying any possibility of targeting relevant online adverts. 

 

While this is great for those concerned about privacy it doesn’t bode well for those interested in free and diverse web content, for example ad-funded online TV. Advertisers won’t just pee their money into the wind - if they don’t know who they’re targeting they simply won’t invest. This means less content. 

 

Where to go from here then? Personally I don’t think that many people are worried about the brands they trust knowing a bit about them. Consider the infinitely helpful suggestions you get from Amazon whenever you log on…I would never consider deleting my Amazon cookies.

 

Companies could try and encourage the use of different browsers such as the open source Firefox, but this isn’t likely to crack the problem and certainly won’t win over the privacy advocates. So the onus has to be on making online ad targeting as ‘helpful’ and non-intrusive as possible. Only by making users go ‘Oh yeah – why didn’t I think of that’ rather than ‘Oh no – how do they know I like that?!” will online ad targeting ever be truly successful.