Qunatcast announced yesterday that they are moving into the European. They have hired Philip MacCauley, the former Director of Business Development and Commercial Relations at Yahoo!, to head up the operation. The feeling here in the market is that Quantcast’s arrival is a positive move. There is still a lack of good data in the market for automated buys, and Quantcast’s European lookalike data should give agencies and advertisers better targeting capabilities. No offence to any of the blogs or trade sites reporting on this story, but Quantcast are not exclusively an analytics company. VCs did not hand over fifty-odd million dollars for an analytics solution for publishers. If you were to definition (and that is generally a dangerous game in this industry), I’d say Quantcast is more of a data and audience profiling platform. So how does Quantcast collect and segment data and what is “lookalike”?

A very quick breakdown of how it might work:

- Quantcast profiles the brand’s or the agency’s desired audience.
- Quantcast then searches for “lookalikes” – these “loookalike” segments are built using its own proprietary modelling technology and of course data from publisher partners. It then allows advertiser’s to target ads against the “lookalike” segments.

Do note that the UK is a different market from the US given the delicate privacy laws and the make-up of the market, and Qunatcast's strategy here for Europe might differ entirely from the US. The exchange space does look forward to learning more about the possibilities of "lookalike" data.

Here is the press release in full on the expansion into the UK:

Quantcast announced today the appointment of Philip Macauley to UK Managing Director, where he will be responsible for leading the company's operations and expansion into the UK market.

Mr Macauley joins Quantcast after ten years at Yahoo!, where he most recently held the post of Director of Business Development and Commercial Relations. He brings Quantcast and its clients his broad expertise in media planning, display advertising and go-to-market strategy within the digital domain. Mr Macauley joined Yahoo! as Head of Planning and Strategy for the UK and Pan-European market. In his tenure with the company, he has held various senior roles including driving media agency relationships as Agency Sales Director and leading the company's publisher efforts as Head of Publisher Partnerships. Prior to Yahoo!, Mr Macauley was with WPP's MindShare.

With this expansion, Quantcast brings to the European advertising and media marketplace a simplified and vastly improved way for advertisers to understand and reach their audiences online and for publishers to deliver real-time audiences that satisfy each advertiser's unique audience requirements.

- Quantcast Measurement is the world's favourite audience
measurement solution enabling publishers to better represent their
unique audiences and providing web site owners with accurate, directly
measured traffic, demographic, lifestyle, business and geographic
audience data. Best of all, Quantcast Measurement is completely free.

- Quantcast Audience gives advertisers the ability to
understand the distinctive characteristics of their best customers and
deploy these proprietary models to connect with millions, or tens of
millions, who look just like them across the web. Quantcast calls these
"lookalikes," and by working with a wide range of leading publishers,
only Quantcast makes lookalikes truly portable, enabling advertisers to
take their audience model to any quality content and media partner of
their choice.

Quantcast's services are used extensively by the advertising industry including most of the world's major media agencies, hundreds of major marketers and millions of websites worldwide, including such leaders as MTV Networks, Bloomberg, The Economist, Reuters, IAC, BBC, Time Inc., NBC Universal, Discovery Communications, TypePad, WordPress, Dailymotion, Demand Media and LinkedIn.

"Since the launch of our global audience service in March, we've seen strong worldwide growth, particularly in Europe," said Konrad Feldman, co-founder and CEO Quantcast. "Phil has exceptional knowledge of the UK marketplace, the needs of buyers and sellers, and a deep understanding of the emergence of real-time media solutions and the value these technologies deliver to publishers, marketers and consumers. We're delighted to have him spearheading our UK expansion and excited for the opportunity it presents."

About Quantcast

Quantcast measures and organizes the world's audiences in real-time so advertisers can buy, sell and connect with the people who matter most to them. Ranked Fast Company's # 3 Most Innovative Company on the Web for 2010, the company is used by the world's leading media agencies, hundreds of major marketers and millions of global websites including thousands of the world's best known destinations. Quantcast connects the planning, buying, and media fulfilment processes, delivering the marketplace's most consistent and accountable audiences. Launched in 2006, Quantcast is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by Founders Fund, Polaris Venture Partners, Revolution Ventures and Cisco Systems. Come Get Quantified(TM) at http://www.quantcast.com.