YPN Testing Stretched Ads

[FTFlash]

It appears that Yahoo is testing out some stretched ads (similar to what Google did a few months ago).

So far I've seen 1 and 3 ads in a leaderboard (which usually has 4), and 1 ad in a wide skyscraper (usually has 5).

Unfortunately, Yahoo doesn't really "stretch" the ads. The single ad in the skyscraper is the same size as it usally is, just without other ads around it. It looks really stupid if you ask me.

[annej]

Thanks! That's what I was asking in the "Why do I get just one ad on my wide skyscraper" thread that I posted this morning.

Is there any significance to them other than you get just one ad instead of 4 or 5 for people to click on? Like is the pay set up different?

[yosaid]

It is just a dumb idea if you ask me. What are they trying to achieve? unless the pay is really high I don't see the point of ruining our website look with some stretched-out piece of ad.

grrrrr...

[annej]

I hope someone here can explain this kind of ad. Is it different in how much it pays or how it earns money for the publisher?

It would help if we could understand what they are trying. I know Yahoo is in Beta but we can't help test the system if we don't know what they are doing. Now it just looks like they are only serving up one ad instead of 4 or 5. And the ad never changes.

[FTFlash]

To my understanding, you get paid the same for this "stretched" ad.

So if advertiser A pays $2.50 for a click, you'll make $2.50 per click whether the ad was clicked alongside 4 other ads or whehter it was the only ad shown.

The reason the ad never changes is probably because YPN is probably having difficulty targeting ads to your page(s). The other possible scenario is that Yahoo is targeting your pages just fine, but there is a lack of ad inventory.

Hope this helps. I wish you the best.

[annej]

I just swithced back to AdSense on that section. I really don't want to be dependent on AdSense only so hopefully Yahoo will get this all sorted out eventually.

[Jenstar]

They began doing this a few weeks after YPN launched in August. The leaderboards will show 1, 2, 3 or 4 ads, I have seen all variations of them. They also do this for banner ad size as well.

The text size is the same though, they do not super-size it like Google does with the expanded ad units.

[newguy1]

Once I noticed a 160x600 showing one ad and once I noticed a 160x600 showing two ads. Both times it happened right after I joined the program and hasn't happened since. I assumed that it was due to a lack of inventory.

If it is still an ongoing test it does not seem to have any affect on my CTR or earnings, so maybe it isn't bad or maybe it just isn't happening in my niche.

[rustybrick]

The ads do not look so different between Google and Yahoo.

In fact, I believe, please correct me if I am wrong, the only ads that are enlarged type face are those that are site targeted at Google.

So maybe when YPN comes out with site targeting (advertise on this site) feature, they will also increase the font sizes.

I have screen captures comparing the two at my blog, if you know how to get there. And it is clear, Yahoo and Google both do the same thing.

[farmboy]

Doesn't AdSense sometimes show less than the standard number of ads in a display if the shown ads will result in more revenue? Is YPN doing the same thing?

FarmBoy

[cline]

please correct me if I am wrong, the only ads that are enlarged type face are those that are site targeted at Google.

If your bid and CTR are good enough your text ad can be balloned to take up the entire ad space. I've seen this happen on Adsense-supported discussion groups where there are lots of page views. Presumably rotating single large ads generates more revenue than the same ads sharing space and getting more page views.