PPC vs CPM

[wheel]

I didn't know where to put this, so foo it is.

I've got an ad network where I sell ads on a CPM basis. Publishers and advertisers all very high quality. No riffraff. No text ads, all ad agency animated ads for branding.

But I don't sell out my inventory (mainly because I don't know the ad agency marketplace). So I was thinking.....

When the inventory isn't sold out, adsense normally gets plugged in. What if I ran a bid model, where others could bid on a ppc basis to run advertising? i.e. for backfill outside my CPM ads, I run text ads from anyone who wants to, on a ppc basis.

Good idea? Bad idea? Software that would accomplish this?

[weeks]

Probably a bad idea. You want to set the ad prices as much as practical. Your advertisers are likely wanting branding as well as traffic. ppc gives branding away for free.

[wheel]

My current advertisers are wanting branding. Whatever the heck that is, all I know is they send me money and don't seem to give a rip if anyone clicks.

I'm wondering about backfill though. I've got unsold inventory. Maybe my own niche PPC system would outperform adsense - that's what I'm thinking.

[caran1]

If you are selling any product yourself elsewhere, you could promote it using the unsold inventory.