Just got this Inside AdWords alert about interest-based advertising beta. They are launching the beta test on YouTube and their partner sites. Ads will be associated by category of interest by gathering information about the websites and web pages people visit.
“Reaching the right audience is the goal of every ad campaign. This week we’re announcing new capabilities planned for the Google content network that will help you achieve that goal. In addition to matching ads with the topic of a web page through contextual advertising, you will be able to reach users based on their interests, independent of the content they are currently reading.
Over the next few months we’ll start offering interest-based advertising to a limited number of advertisers as part of a beta, and expand the offering later in 2009. If you would like to participate in the beta, please fill out this form.
With interest-based advertising, you will be able to reach users based on your past interactions with them, such as their visits to your website. We’ll also provide interest categories, such as “sports enthusiasts,” so you can reach the audience of your choice. Whether your goal is to drive brand awareness or increase responses to your ads, these capabilities can help expand the success of your campaigns.
Users browsing the web will benefit from the additional relevancy that interest-based ads can provide. And by visiting the new Ads Preferences Manager, users can see what interest categories we think they fall into, or add and remove categories themselves. The Ads Preferences Manager can be found by clicking on most “Ads by Google” links you see on ads throughout the web.”