Phorm Updates Investors on U.K. Progress, or Lack Thereof

ISP-based ad technology company Phorm released an update today detailing its progress, or rather the lack thereof, in the U.K. market.

After announcing in February that it had entered into exclusive agreements with U.K. ISPs BT, Talk Talk and Virgin Media, trials of the firm’s controversial ad-targeting technology were scheduled to begin across BT’s network in April. Six months on, the tests have still not started.

Phorm’s statement admits that arrangements for the trials have “taken longer than anticipated,” but insists that they “will commence as soon as preparations are complete.”

BT’s chief press officer Adam Liversage told ClickZ News back in April that the tests had been delayed while the ISP investigated a user opt-out method that does not involve leaving a cookie on users’ systems.

Speaking with ClickZ again in mid-August, Liversage said the trials were still on hold, but not as a result of the opt out issue. “There are other things we are working through, it’s a separate issue,” he said.

BT already conducted trials of some of Phorm’s technology back in 2006, without consumer consent, so it’s unclear exactly what the hold-up is at this point.

Regardless, Phorm says it expects Virgin Media and TalkTalk to commence their own consumer trials “in due course,” and maintains that its offering has received a “significant” level of interest from other U.K. ISP’s, agencies, publishers and ad networks.

Interestingly, it also claims to have received interest from ISP’s outside the U.K. market.

Rival ISP-based ad-targeter NebuAd has already been met with a frosty reception in the U.S., with its partners there all suspending trials of its technology. In addition, the company announced yesterday that CEO Bob Dykes had stepped down, and hinted that it may move away from its current business model to broaden its market via “more conventional media channels and means.”

Whether Phorm’s brand of user tracking and ad-targeting will suffer a similar fate in the U.K. market remains to be seen, but numerous dedicated privacy groups and Web sites have sprung up all over the web.

BT’s “secret trials” of the technology back in 2006 haven’t exactly aided public perception, but the U.K. information commissioner’s office has stated that it would not pursue BT over its actions or potential breaches of European privacy laws.