RadiumOne leads way on social data advertising

According to TechCrunch, online advertising company RadiumOne is the leader in a "new breed" of advertising networks using social data-based targeting.

With normal advertising, networks auction ad space - in real time - to decide what to display based on certain profiles. TechCrunch said, "RadiumOne builds a different profile for you than its competitors, though, and may grab ads that others leave untouched (or just pay more). The reason? They've built your profile based on what your friends like, too."

How is the profile built ?

Via data deals with all those sharing widgets you see on websites from companies like ShareThis, AddThis and AddToAny. Users of those services spread links on social networks. Through a combination of unique URL shorteners and cookies they are able to create a profile for people clicking on the links, as well as the implied social connection.

The success of this approach can be measured in dollars. Apparently one retailer went from $8 returned per advertising dollar spent to $14 with RadiumOne.

Now RadiumOne is using cash from a recent funding round to buy the widget companies outright, effectively cornering the market.

Read the full story here.