MatchLogic Offers Bandwidth Adaptive Ad Technology

MatchLogic Inc. introduced SpeedSelect, a patent-pending service that allows Internet advertisers and Web sites to deliver different versions of advertising and content to users with varying connection speeds.

The delivery mechanism is automatic, transparent and in real time, the company said.

SpeedSelect intelligently identifies user bandwidth capabilities in real time. Since many factors can affect a user’s total transfer speed on the Internet at any particular time, SpeedSelect monitors available user bandwidth and calibrates itself to provide a Web browsing experience fine-tuned to each user’s capabilities.

For example, if a user is experiencing reduced bandwidth because of telephone line noise or other browser instances, SpeedSelect detects it, and seamlessly adjusts content and advertising accordingly. Content providers or advertisers can divide users into as many speed categories as they wish, MatchLogic said. For example, T1 users might receive a higher-quality, larger film clip than ISDN users, with 56k modem users receiving larger graphic files than 28.8k modem users.

“Until now, if you wanted to use larger advertisements or rich media on your site, it slowed load times to a crawl and often times resulted in the serving of incomplete content for those users with lower bandwidth,” said Russell Yanda, MatchLogic co-founder and director of rich media.

“With SpeedSelect, advertisers or content providers can ensure that all users receive content regardless of their connection speed–high-bandwidth users get more sophisticated rich-media content and lower-bandwidth users get quicker downloads. In short, the Web-browsing experience is enhanced for everyone.”

An advertiser, for example, might prepare three different ads based on the viewer’s connection capabilities: potentially a black and white static version advertisement for low-bandwidth users (14.4 kbps modem), a color animated version for average bandwidth users (28.8 kbps modem) and a rich media, interactive version for high-bandwidth users (ISDN or T1 connection).

SpeedSelect user profiles to predict a user’s connection speed at any time, based on measurements taken at similar times of day. This reduces the need to perform a measurement for each request. All data can be used in conjunction with MatchLogic’s TrueSelect advanced ad-targeting system, the company said.

MatchLogic is a subsidiary of Excite Inc. that offers a full range of integrated marketing services that enable advertisers and agencies to orchestrate Internet campaigns and provides everything from strategic consulting to ad and email serving to near real-time performance tracking and intelligent targeting.