whoisgregg - 5:06 am on Jul 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

My whole understand of smart pricing is that it can increase the SHARE the publisher gets from the $1.00 the advertiser is paying.

The goal of smartpricing is to algorithmically normalize the content networks ROI to the advertiser, by automatically discounting their bid based on the expected conversion rate of each site. When it works, it's supposed to turn an advertisers $1.00 bid from a "I am willing to pay $1.00 per click" to "I am willing to pay $1.00 for a click from the content network that's as good as a click from the search network." Since the quality across the content network varies *dramatically,* some adjustments are required.

The advertiser who bids $1.00 may only pay half that on a site that smartpricing has declared is only worth 50% the "standard conversion" rate. The same "smartpricing discount" applies to all advertisers participating in the auction for ad space on that site.