AdSense Sneaking in Rich Media, Referral Limits
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Written By Reprise Media | January 27, 2006 | Share This
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Google’s been a touch test-y this week. According to JenSense, AdSense has quietly begun beta-testing rich media advertising content - including floating ads, expanding ads, and the dreaded full-page interstitials - with a limited number of publishers, who have likely been bound by non-disclosure agreements.
Introducing these kinds of campaigns will mark a departure from AdSense’s traditional text-based ads in more ways than one. In addition to being more, shall we say, noticible, JenSense reports that the ads will probably be site targeted as well, which could cut down on the sometimes-confusing contextual ads that don’t quite match up with site content. And of course there are the market implications. JenSense thinks:
“If AdSense offered rich media to all publishers, it could really hurt competitor companies offering similar rich media ad formats because of the vast number of publishers that AdSense has.”
AdSense rivals aren’t the only ones who could get upset. Chris Garrett at Performancing, for one, is a bit tetched. Describing rich media as “annoying and intrusive,” and interstitials specifically as “evil,” he demands, “Would you allow these ads on your blog?”
And JenSense has another AdSense scoop. She caught a Digital Point thread discussing a new clause in AdSense publisher referrals. Previously, AdSense would pay its affiliates $100 for referring another publisher to the program. Google recently revised their policy slightly - affiliates aren’t eligible for the payout unless the referred publisher earns $100 in ad revenue within 90 days.
Says JenSense, “No one seems to recall [when] that ‘within 90 days’ clause [was] added. And frankly, neither do I.”
Topics: Advertising: Contextual |