(Direct Newsline)—Experian will close most of its incentive and loyalty programs, including Web-based incentive marketing, and will lay off two-thirds of the staff in its MetaReward subsidiary or about 50 people, according to a report in ClickZ.

The report quoted Experian spokeswoman Heather Greer as saying that the consumer data aggregator was getting out of the incentive marketing space due to diminishing returns.

While the incentive marketing space attracted high traffic volumes and afforded ad and marketing opportunities for Experian clients when the company bought MetaReward two years ago, Greer was quoted as saying that “over the past year the effectiveness of incentive marketing has eroded and volumes have dropped.”

MetaReward offerings included the NetFlip, FreeGiftCentral, MovieTicketSource and MisterPoints reward programs, and the ExpertsOnCredit credit advice site.

The discontinued programs comprised about 90% of MetaReward sales, according to Greer, with the remainder made up by credit-card marketing and membership clubs. Closing down MetaRewards will have no impact on Experian’s other interactive marketing businesses, including LowerMyBills.com and PriceGrabber.com, both of which the company purchased in 2005.

Experian will close most of its incentive and loyalty programs, including Web-based incentive marketing, and will lay off two-thirds of the staff in its MetaReward subsidiary or about 50 people, according to a report in ClickZ.

The report quoted Experian spokeswoman Heather Greer as saying that the consumer data aggregator was getting out of the incentive marketing space due to diminishing returns.

While the incentive marketing space attracted high traffic volumes and afforded ad and marketing opportunities for Experian clients when the company bought MetaReward two years ago, Greer was quoted as saying that