Webwise Discover acts as a personalised content index
Phorm adds consumer service to Webwise
/v3-uk/news/1993161/phorm-adds-consumer-service-webwise
03 Jun 2009, Rosalie Marshall , V3
Phorm, the company that spurred the UK into a heated debate on behavioural advertising, has launched a new product called Webwise Discover.
The product is marketed at consumers and will be made available free of charge, but take-up will result in direct gains for advertisers in line with Phorm's main revenue model.
Webwise Discover will allow visitors to any web site to automatically be served up content within that site based on their interests from across the web. Consumers will sign up to the Webwise Discover widget, which will act as a personalised content index on any page of a participating web publisher.
Mike Moore, Phorm's global commercial director, gave the example of a user who checks a newspaper web site for sports news, but who also browses sites relating to red wine. Once the user downloads the Phorm widget, the next time they visit the newspaper site, they will be served links to its red wine reviews.
However, users of Webwise Discover will also have to accept the underlying technology that links to Webwise, which is Phorm's flagship product aimed at advertisers.
Webwise serves users accurately targeted advertisements based on their browsing information. Because Webwise is linked to internet service providers (ISPs), it differs from other behavioural advertising companies as it tracks whatever users do on the web, rather than on just the one site.
This has led to consumer anxiety about Webwise, and the stalling of planned deployments on BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk.
Phorm now hopes that consumers, who once saw no benefits in selling their personal data for more relevant advertisements, may reconsider. According to a Phorm survey of 2,075 consumers, 81 per cent said they liked Webwise Discover, particularly because of its anti-phishing capabilities.
But Phorm's main difficulty lies in product deployment. Although Phorm has started testing Webwise Discover in South Korea under the ISP KT, consumers in the UK cannot use the product until ISPs start to roll out Webwise, and Phorm gains opt-in from publishers.
The latter development is unlikely to take long; Phorm announced at the launch of Webwise Discover that it was holding meetings with the national press and social networks at an event on Wednesday evening.
The former development is the question. Phorm chief executive Ken Ertugrul said that it can be answered only by the ISPs themselves.
© Incisive Media Investments Limited 2010, Published by Incisive Financial Publishing Limited, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RX, are companies registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 04252091 & 04252093
Do you agree?
Malware is as malware does
This still relies on intercepting surfer's data and forging cookies.
Plus you are laying bare all your browsing data - even sensitive stuff. Phorm promise they won't peek, but this is the word of a company with its roots in a huge betrayal of trust on the INternet.
Search on Apropos rootkit and 121media.
Posted by Nathan Bold, 04 Jun 2009
Yet another intrusion in the name of profit
When I use the internet, I want to see only what is of interest to me at that particular time. I do not want to be bombarded with adverts just because I looked at something once days ago. Whatever anyone says about anti-phishing capabilities, I do not think it will be long before the criminals will have found a way to use and abuse it.
Posted by Paul Vine, 04 Jun 2009