nerdcereal.com

I read a couple of Gawker Media blogs and frequently see the weirdest ads running on their network of sites—weird in that they don’t look like advertisements. They look strange and out of place and in turn, intriguing. Clicking on the image, I’m taken to a page with more of the same imagery but with some context. It appears that Gawker fills their unsold pageviews with art from drawing, film, sculpture, digial art, painting, photography and more. Click on the ad and you’ll see the particular artist featured in the pageview. You can also see all artists.

Gawker also lets interested publishers display the rotating gallery of artwork on their own sites. I think it’s an excellent way to display art and better than selling your remnant inventory to bottom-feeding advertisers that aren’t going to pay much anyways. If you let everyone advertise on your site, how can you command a high CPM and maintain your site’s integrity?

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I just found a list of a comprehensive list of all the online advertising networks there are in existence. Intimidating to say the least; but most of these are probably pretty tiny.

1. Chitika : Shopping mall banner advertising. (CPC)
2. Google AdSense (CPC)
3. Advertising.com : Large network. (CPA)
4. 24/7 RealMedia : Large network. (CPM)
5. Burst Media : Large network. (CPM)
6. Commission Junction : Large network. (CPA)
7. Kanoodle : Large network. (CPC); 50% payout.
8. LinkShare : Large network. (CPA)
9. ValueClick : Large network. (CPM)
10. Yahoo Publisher Network : Closed Beta (CPC)
11. MSN adCenter : Closed Beta (CPC)
12. Accelerator Media :
13. AdAgency 1 : (CPM) ; 60% payout.
14. AdDynamix : (CPM)
15. AdEngage :
16. Adgenta :
17. Adhearus :
18. AdKnowledge : (CPC)
19. AdPepper : (CPM)
20. ADServing Network : (CPM)
21. Adsmart : (CPM)
22. Adtegrity : (CPM)
23. AdZuba : (CPM)
24. AffiliateFuture : (CPA)
25. AffiliateSensor :
26. AllFeeds : (CPC); 60% payout.
27. AVNads :
28. AzoogleAds : (CPA)
29. Banner Boxes : (CPC)
30. BannerConnect : (CPM)
31. BardzoMedia : (CPM)
32. BidClix : (CPC)
33. BidVertiser : (CPC)
34. BlinkAds : (CPA)
35. BlueFN : (CPA)
36. BlueLithium : (CPM)
37. Casale Media : (CPM); 70% payout.
38. ClickAdsDirect :
39. ClickBooth : (CPA)
40. ClickShare :
41. Clicksor : (CPC); upto 85% payout.
42. ClickXchange : (CPA)
43. ContexWeb : (CPC); 50% payout.
44. CoverClicks :
45. CPX Interactive/Budsinc : (CPM)
46. DirectNetworks : (CPA)
47. Enhance Interactive :
48. Esource Media : (CPM)
49. Etype-Europe : (CPM)
50. EtypeUSA :
51. ExpoActive :
52. FastClick=ValueClick : (CPM); upto 65% payout.
53. FluxAds : (CPA)
54. HurricaneDigitalMedia : (CPM); 60/75% payout.
55. Hyperbidder : (CPC)
56. IncentaClick : (CPA)
57. Industry Brains :
58. Interclick :
59. JoeTec : (CPM)
60. Kontera : (CPC)
61. Mamma Media Solutions : (CPC); 50% payout.
62. MaxBounty : (CPA)
63. Mirago :
64. MIVA AdRevenue Xpress :
65. Nixxie :
66. Oridian : (CPA)
67. Oxado : (CPC)
68. Paypopup : (CPM)
69. PeakClick :
70. Popup Traffic : (CPM)
71. Quigo : (CPC)
72. RealCastMedia : (CPM)
73. RealTech Network : (CPM)
74. Revenue Pilot : (CPC); 60% payout.
75. RightMedia : (CPM)
76. Searchfeed : (CPC)
77. ShareAShare : (CPA)
78. TargetPoint : (CPC); at least 50% payout.
79. TextLinkAds : (CPC)
80. TMP Express : (CPA)
81. Tremor Network :
82. Tribal Fusion : (CPM)
83. Veoda : (CPC) ; 60-90% payout.
84. Vibrant Media IntelliTXT : (CPM)

(Read more from this post as to the quality of some of these networks)

If I’m not making any money from advertising, not even enough to pay for my hosting, why on earth am I tarnishing my site with ugly advertisements for unnecessary goods and services? Because I work for an ad network.

In order to design an interface for people to buy, sell, manage and optimize online advertising, I need a first-hand experience how people do it. Mainly, I run AdBrite ads, however, today I finally pasted some Google AdSense on my site. It’s the like the adage “eat your own dog food.” If I’m gonna be designing these interfaces, I damn well better use and enjoy them myself.

Want an exclusive advertising opportunity on Google Maps? All you need is a really, really, really big sign. Looking around Redwood City I saw this Excite @ Home building (who knows if they’re still located there or even in buisiness). Unfortunately it only works for the hybrid and satellite views. It’s a tactic similar to paying one of those kids to shake a sign on a street corner, but on a much larger scale.

Note to people gullible enough to try this tactic: make sure your message reads west to east.

The video pretty much says it all. Get started here or read the discussion at Techcrunch.

I never wrote a post about this, but back in November, AdBrite began offering banner ads in addition to a whole gamut of other improvements for advertisers (dubbed AdBrite 2.0). It’s significant to me now because this has finally trickled down to this blog. Note the IAB-sized ad zone to the right, sometimes it has 5 text links, but if there’s matching image inventory, it will show a banner ad instead.

I don’t know anything about this software, just wanted to log it for the future for whenever I need an open source ad-serving software. (I’ll have to get people to start reading this blog first).

Also, the “online advertising” section was a little lonely with only one post.

phpadsnew

The July 8th issue of The Economist featured an article entitled The Ultimate Marketing Machine about how online advertising eliminates wasted advertising dollars by showing users relevant ads. Before the web, statistics, rankings and ratings were used to maximize conversion but as accurate as these methods are, they’re mere guesswork compared to the precision with which users’ behavior can be tracked online.

The article included a brief history of how modern advertising was fathered by John Wanamaker who said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don’t know which half.”

The article also called out Google, labeling it “the world’s most valuable online advertising agency disguised as a search engine.” You gotta love The Economist for telling it like it is. Sometimes people forget what’s paying for all the free email and services Google provides.

Also discussed was the variety of payment models being used in this new ad-space: pay-per-click, pay-per-print (coupons), pay-per-view (CPM), pay-per-call and the most-effective-but-yet-to-be-realized cost-per-action (cost-per-sale).

As more humans turn to the Internet for media consumption, advertising revenue will continue to increase (see chart). More ads online will irk some, but the silver lining is that they will (hopefully) be just the ads you’ve been wanting to see.