Viewpoint will release a behavioral targeting product by 2Q06 that will work by collecting clickstream data of users who have installed the Viewpoint media player, then using that data to target ads and content on the company's partner sites, reports ClickZ (via MediaBuyerPlanner). Viewpoint claims that 120 million users have installed its player.
Viewpoint announced the behavioral initiative in the wake of a downbeat quarter with a net loss of $1.5 million on total revenue of $6 million.
While capitalizing on advertiser demand for user behavior data could bring new revenue, it also comes at a time of increased privacy concerns amid an unsettled legislative environment around desktop software that gathers user clickstream data.
