Malware marketing strategies: niche versus mass market targeting

¶ … programs result in greater "targeting" of advertising, or are they just as mass market in nature as television ads?

The 'marketing' of malware programs can involve either a mass or niche marketing approach, depending on the nature of the applications designed to track browser activity or the 'free' offers used to seduce internet users into handing over their personal information. One of the examples provided in the case study is the 10-year-old girl who navigates to a game site, only to be confronted with pop-up ads. If the games offered through the website appeal only to a limited age group, and the pop-up ads are designed to target this age group, then this would be an example of niche marketing. On the other hand, if the website offered games that appealed to all ages and the pop-up ads were designed accordingly, then this would represent a mass marketing strategy. Another example provided in the case study is the 'Crush Calculator' delivered to MySpace and Facebook users. Without knowing more about this application, the target market would probably be anyone old enough to have gone through puberty and would therefore represent a mass marketing approach.