Leading ISPs sign up to Phorm targeted ad service

Fri, 15 Feb 2008

BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk have signed up to a new service that allows them to provide users with targeted adverts. The three companies will use a new online advertising platform called the Open Internet Exchange (OIX), which monitors every website that a user visits in order to serve customers with more relevant advertising.

The OIX is the brainchild of advertising technology company Phorm, which already works with media agencies including Universal McCann and Manning Gottlieb OMD, and websites such as the Financial Times and MySpace.

Phorm chairman and chief executive Kent Ertugrul says: "In a world where all websites rely on advertising for their existence, this offers the promise of better content for consumers."

He adds that the service will "dramatically improve the effectiveness of advertising for online publishers and advertisers".

Phorm is talking to all of the UK's internet service providers about OIX, as well as companies in other countries, including the US.