DoubleClick goes to Canada

DoubleClick, the online advertising company, today launched a network in Canada.

DoubleClick uses cookies to identify unique users on a network of Web sites and then sends them targeted banner ads. The company develops profiles of Netizens according to their surfing habits and keeps them in a database that can be instantly accessed to serve up ads that match their interests.

The launch of the Canadian site today follows a trend to develop sites specifically catered to geographical areas. With a business like DoubleClick, where companies join to send local advertising, it makes sense to develop separate networks for each geographical area.

DoubleClick has delivered more than 6 billion ads in more than 80 countries since its inception in late 1995, including more than 20 million Internet ads per month to Canadian users, according to the company.

"For advertisers, we are the only alternative that enables them to target only Canadian traffic, thus eliminating the waste of having to pay for non-Canadian visitors to the Web sites where the advertiser's message is placed," stated Barry Salzman, international vice president for DoubleClick.

The companies in the Canadian network include Royal Bank of Canada, Canada Trust, and the Canadian Yellow Pages Publishers Association.

DoubleClick launched in Asia in August.

Some have criticized DoubleClick's method of ad delivery, saying it violates the privacy of the surfer because surfers generally don't know when a DoubleClick cookie gets implanted in their browsers. Surfers also don't know that they are being tracked.

But DoubleClick maintains that it does not violate privacy because "DoubleClick does not know the name, email address, phone number, or home address of anybody who visits a site in the DoubleClick Network," according to its privacy policy. "All users who receive an ad targeted by DoubleClick's technology remain completely anonymous."