Experian is shuttering all of its incentive and loyalty programs, including web-based incentive marketing, and laying off 50 people (two-thirds of staff) in its MetaReward unit, which it acquired two years ago, reports ClickZ. The shutdown is not mean to affect Experian's other interactive businesses, including LowerMyBills.com and PriceGrabber.com, which it purchased in May and December of 2005, respectively.

"The incentive marketing space originally attracted high volumes of consumer traffic, which provided an opportunity for us to offer advertising and marketing services to clients," spokesperson Heather Greer is quoted as saying.

"Over the past year, the effectiveness of incentive marketing has eroded and volumes have dropped. We decided the best move for us would be to exit the incentive marketing space."