Would-Be Online Ad Targeter NebuAd Calls It A Day
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Behavioral ad targeter NebuAd, whose beta tests with Charter Communications (NSDQ: CHTR) last spring sparked a class action lawsuit and helped lead to Congressional investigations of the online ad industry, is no more, Mediapost reported, citing court documents. The company officially shut down on Friday and its website all but blank. At its height, the site employed 60 people, but it now has “a skeletal staff” left to wind it down as it pays off creditors, attorney Alan Himmelfarb wrote in filing to U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco. Himelfarb’s firm, KamberEdelson, brought a suit against NebuAd on behalf of a dozen consumers who accused the company of privacy violations last fall. More after the jump
Just before that suit, the embattled company lost its CEO and said it would take a “time-out” on further targeting tests with ISP providers. Not that any wanted to be publicly associated with NebuAd after Charter backed away from any desire to run targeted ads on its internet subscribers.
SEE ALSO: NebuAd Calls ‘Time-Out’ On Further ISP Ad Targeting
That’s not to say that cable operators have given up the wider advertising and publisher goal of creating more targeted ads. Like Facebook’s false step with Beacon, which automatically shared details of purchases made by members. While regulators, along with state and federal lawmakers, continue to scrutinize targeting practices, the practice—and the hope among the online ad companies—certainly isn’t dead. But NebuAd’s experience will continue to serve as a case study for an already cautious industry.
@davidaKaplan
May 18, 2009 4:53 PM ET
Posted In: Advertising, Legal, Marketing
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