In CJR’s March/April issue, David S. Bennahum, who runs the Center for Independent Media, made the case that targeted Web advertising, which will eventually enable marketers to pinpoint their advertisements to individual readers, will soon become a major piece of the answer to news outlets’ online revenue woes. But how much of a saving grace will it be? Jane Kim spoke with Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO of Denuo, a digital-media-futures company that consults for The New York Times, among others.

No one seems to know definitively if targeted Web advertising will help newspapers enough. Will it?

Targeted Web advertising is essential for newspapers, because marketers are interested in buying audiences rather than space. Behavioral targeting should allow publishers to increase their revenue per impression by a factor of two to five times. But it alone isn’t likely to turn publishers from not being profitable to being profitable.

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