LinkedIn responds to ad demand with ad network

Advertisers can now target the desirable InCrowds on business social networking site LinkedIn, thanks to their partnership with ad network Collective Media.

by Helen Leggatt

LinkedIn has created the LinkedIn Audience Network which will allow advertisers to target users based on specific data such as job description, gender, size of company and industry. Despite other social networks having a hard time monetizing their sites, LinkedIn has met with huge demand.

"The message we hear from advertisers is simple: They want mass reach against specific segments of decision-making professionals, and they want their ads to appear in quality environments," said Steve Patrizi, LinkedIn's director of advertising sales, via NewsFactor.com.

LinkedIn’s Audience Network will enable partner publishers, such as the New York Times and BusinessWeek, to identify LinkedIn users across a large number of sites using cookies.

Segmented into “InCrowds”, LinkedIn’s business community are a desirable bunch. With an average household income of $109,000, 65% of LinkedIn’s 27 million registered users are male, and the average age is 41.

Advertisers can work with LinkedIn and use data-mining techniques to develop their own customized target audience.