Yahoo has launched AdLabs, a group aimed at providing "scientific leadership" to the online advertising industry and accelerating innovation in digital ad products through Yahoo labs. 

"The AdLabs team will mine Yahoo!’s vast data repository of campaigns and associated metrics to inform both thought leadership and product innovation," a representative for the company tells WebProNews. "The team will also work directly with key advertising and data partners in a prospective way to test of the insights uncovered."

"Yahoo! Labs has been instrumental in developing Yahoo!’s advertising products, laying a foundation of scientific research and innovative data analysis, supporting everything from the world’s most advanced display advertising marketplace to the world’s most effective ad targeting capabilities," said Dr. Prabhakar Raghavan, Yahoo’s chief scientist and head of Yahoo Labs. "AdLabs will build on this success and break new ground in combining scientific rigor with a deep understanding of the practical needs of marketers."

Yahoo also shared some results from a retail online ad study. These include:

– Hyperlocal targeting of a retail display campaign generated more than five times return-on-ad-spend, measured by sales lift at the retailer.

– Return-on-ad-spend was four times the spend for customers living within five miles of a store, and 21 times the spend for customers living within two miles of a store.

"Successful campaigns change perceptions about brands and increase sales," said VP and head of Yahoo AdLabs, Ken Mallon. "Marketers need new, breakthrough, scientifically-tested methodologies to drive these important metrics. Yahoo! has the scale to measure the impact of many campaigns and the breadth of expertise to produce the new models and innovations that will move the digital advertising industry forward."

Read here for an interview we did with a Yahoo ad exec on how advertisers are using the Super Bowl for online advertising.