Ad Products

What is Behavioral Targeting?

How does Behavioral Targeting work?

Who are you partnering with to offer BT to your advertisers?

What kind of Bankrate “Consumer Segments” can I reach in this program?

What benefits will I gain from a Behavioral Targeting campaign?

How do I know I’m really reaching the Bankrate user?

What sites will my ads be running on?

How can I be sure my ad won’t appear on offensive sites?

How much does a BT campaign cost?

What about the consumer privacy issues?

Can I buy a BT campaign as a stand-alone product?

What is Behavioral Targeting?

Behavioral targeting allows marketers to reach users that have been identified on the Bankrate Network of sites (Bankrate, Interest.com and Mortgage-Calc) as consumers of specific in-market content, such as mortgage or home equity. And now for the first time, advertisers can extend the reach and/or frequency of their marketing message to these  consumers beyond the Bankrate Network.

For example, a consumer comes to Bankrate.com and reads three home equity articles, calculates the benefits of a home equity loan vs. a HELOC and looks at rates for a $50k home equity loan. This consumer has shown tremendous interest and intent in securing a home equity product. As an advertiser, you now have the ability to continue communicating with this consumer across hundreds of web sites.  

How does Behavioral Targeting work?

To qualify a user as an in-market shopper in any of Bankrate’s segments, a cookie is placed in the Bankrate user’s browser, which will then track the pages visited by that user. Using a mortgage example, a Bankrate consumer who visits a mortgage story, rate table, or calculator within the last 120 days will be tagged and placed in the Mortgage Behavioral Targeting Bucket.  When that consumer visits one of the sites within the Behavioral Targeting Network they will receive a mortgage advertisement. 

Who are you partnering with to offer BT to your advertisers?

We have chosen two industry-leading companies to partner with in order to launch our Behavioral Targeting program: Revenue Science and 24/7 Real Media.

We chose both companies based on their advanced behavioral targeting technologies, the expertise of their media teams, and their extensive reach of the U.S. Internet audience.

The benefit of working with two companies is that it allows us the flexibility to further optimize our advertisers’ results over time while bringing the industry’s best practices to the Bankrate advertiser.  We are confident that this strategy will allow our partners to reach the valuable Bankrate audience in greater frequency and within environments that will generate tremendous visibility, awareness and ROI for the advertisers.

What kind of Bankrate “Consumer Segments” can I reach in this program?

Bankrate’s Behavioral Targeting Program will allow you to reach in-market users in the following categories:

Mortgages
Home Equity
Credit Cards
Deposits  (CDs/Investment/Checking/Savings)

What benefits will I gain from a Behavioral Targeting campaign?

The benefit comes from simply reaching the right user at the right time. 

All consumers are in-market for financial products for a limited amount of time.  A consumer might shop for a mortgage for several months, but might make a decision about opening a new CD account in less than a month (or do so each and every month).  Bankrate users are in-market consumers either actively conducting research or getting ready to transact. These highly in-market consumers are a finite target, thus creating a limit to the marketing communications available on the Bankrate Network.

However, Behavioral Targeting now provides the ability to expand upon this finite target and allows you to follow these users with your message once they’ve left the Bankrate site, but while they are still very much in-market. 

3rd-party industry data has proven time and time again that online research affects purchase decisions.  An advertisement that is targeted to reach a user who is in-market for that product can then be viewed as useful “content” rather than an irrelevant advertisement, thus pushing that consumer further down the funnel towards your brand.

How do I know I’m really reaching the Bankrate user?

One word: technology. We are working with the industry’s most advanced behavior targeting technology.  The cookie is set only once a user visits specific pages that have been “tagged” on the Bankrate site. So the users that we are tracking via this technology could only have originated from the Bankrate.com Web site.

What sites will my ads be running on?

Through the combined reach of our two partners Revenue Science and 24/7 Real Media, Bankrate’s Behavioral Targeting network encompasses hundreds of the most recognized publishers on the Web, with a reach exceeding 90% of the U.S. Internet audience.  But remember – the beauty of Behavioral Targeting is that you’re targeting highly in-market consumers, regardless of context.

How can I be sure my ad won’t appear on offensive sites?

The partners we are working with to provide Bankrate's Behavioral Targeting Network require their affiliate sites to represent that they not provide any objectionable editorial content such as pornography, obscene or hateful language, libelous or defamatory statements, illegal content, content that contains viruses, or anything that promotes online gambling.

How much does a BT campaign cost?

Each Behavioral Targeting Campaign is unique in terms of inventory purchased, consumer segments reached, etc. so the costs will vary.  But overall, the CPMs of a BT campaign will be lower than the standard Bankrate rate card, making this a very cost-efficient, targeted media buy. For specific costs, please contact your Sales Representative. 

What about the consumer privacy issues?

Consumer privacy is extremely important to Bankrate. That’s why the technology we are using and the way we use it meets/exceeds all the industry standards for protecting consumer’s privacy online. We do not collect personally identifiable information, install software on users’ computer, or track keystrokes. 

In addition, Bankrate employs methods to enable consumers to opt out of having their behavior tracked, in accordance to the standards set forth by the Network Advertising Initiative – as do both of the companies we are partnering with to deliver our Behavioral Targeting Program.

Please review Bankrate’s Privacy Policy for further information.

Can I buy a BT campaign as a stand-alone product?

Currently, we are offering Behavioral Targeting as an added component to an existing media buy.  Please contact your Sales Representative for further details. 

What types of ad units are available for a Behavioral Targeting campaign?

Current ad units available through this program are 728x90, 160x600, and 300x250.