The estimates of how many advertising messages we are exposed to in a day varies considerably, from 400 to over 5,400.

They key phrase here is “exposed to,” not “pay attention to.”

In fact, one-third of the American population between the ages of 17 and 35 say they do just the opposite, according to CRM Magazine, and avoid ads altogether.

The promise of capturing the attention of this highly prized demographic is an important motivator for News Corp’s recent announcement that it will allow advertisers to deliver precision-targeted banner ads based on user-created data through the expansion of MySpace’s advertising platform.

The move offers a clear value proposition to New Corp., which requires a return on its massive investment in MySpace. It will also be appealing to advertisers, who invest an estimated $500 billion on advertising annually, and don’t wish to see that spend reach closed eyeballs.

With the new move from MySpace, advertisers can now pinpoint exactly who they want to reach, based on data collected from users' personal profiles, the groups they join and the messages they post for their friends.

While the value to News Corp. and the advertisers is obvious, it may be a more dubious proposition for the users, suggest some commentators, such as Kathryn Montgomery, a professor at American University and author of the book “Generation Digital: Politics, Commerce, and Childhood in the Age of the Internet.”

Montgomery told the New York Times that: “Despite all of the assurances that the industry gave to regulators and the public, it sounds as if their business plans sort of fly in the face of the promises to operate without exploiting young people.

“If you are hanging out with your friends and talking about who you are, what rock stars you like, and so on, you don’t assume that someone is sitting there and taking down every word you’re saying and putting it into some kind algorithm,” she said.

Citing performance increases of more than 300 per cent in terms of things like click-throughs versus ads that are targeted through demographics, Travis Katz, international marketing director for MySpace, tells the Globe & Mail that his company is simply applying the user-generated principles of social media to its advertising approach, especially for smaller advertisers. “It's really the idea of empowering all of these users – small business, independent film makers, musicians – to leverage social networks and do advertising in a way that is efficient, smart and easy to use.”

That’s an extremely valuable proposition for the advertiser. Now let’s see if users agree.

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