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What you can learn from Web addresses

March 19, 2002 › Sandy McMurray | comment

What you can learn from Web addresses
If you watch TV at night, you might have seen an ad for Gold Rush 2002 – a video that showcases Canadian men's hockey at the Salt Lake City Olympic games.

I noticed that the Web address ("domain name") that accompanies the toll-free telephone number on the screen is http://www.hockeyonvideo.com/comedy/, which got me thinking...

Why "Comedy"? What's funny about Canada's team winning the gold?

Then I realized that I was watching the ad on The Comedy Network. It turns out the ad is also running on TSN, so you can also get the same information from www.hockeyonvideo.com/tsn/. Using different ads and Web addresses, the video folks can measure the response from each cable channel. The same technique is used when direct marketers put coupons in magazines (for example) – different numbers or markings identify the source of the coupon.

If you're ever curious about the owners of a Web site, you can use a tool called whois to look it up. The system used to register domain names keeps track of administrative and technical contacts for each site. Using a whois search, like the one at Internic.ca, you can find out who's behind these hockey videos.

March 19, 2002 › Sandy McMurray | comment on this item