Skyscraper ads only showing 1 or 2 ads

Anyone else have this problem?

[skippy]

My skyscraper ads are only showing 1 or 2 ads and the rest are blank. Does this happen every now and again or do I have a problem?

[neo_brown]

Isnt this what happens when they do not have enough ads for your particular, er niche?

[skippy]

I thought they gave you PSA instead.

[ken_b]

You only get the PSAs when there are no appropriate ads for your space.

It can really be a time of day thing on some sites.

Advertisers can turn their ads on and off more or less whenever they want if they manage them agressively as I understand it.

And it also depends on the number of ads available at any given moment.

[skippy]

Ok that makes sense. I think most of the advertisers in my area mange their ads aggressively. Most are very large companies and I think they do it mostly for branding.
Thanks

[richmondsteve]

skippy, that is what typically happens when supply exceeds demand for the types of ads that are matched to that page's content or the theme of your site at that particular time. However, it's *not always* what happens - at least recently. See the following thread I started on Monday - PSAs mixed in with Adwords advertisers [webmasterworld.com].

[skippy]

Thanks Steve,
It was kind of freaking me out because I have two related sites in the category area but only one was effected at the time. Both are now.

Time to find some alternative ads. I don’t think just one ad showing looks good.

[annej]

I thought alternative ads were just for in
place of PSAs. Do they work to fill the gaps too? That would be great and if it's true I'll get to work and create some alternative ads.

[skippy]

I thought alternative ads were just for in
place of PSAs. Do they work to fill the gaps too?

Opps sorry did not mean to imply that. Just figured that I would see a large stack of PSA soon as a ad inventory seems to be a bit depleted.

I don’t think it is possible but would be very very nice though.

[annej]

Yup, would be nice.

I notice that most of the gaps seem to come in the late evening. I suppose because it's after midnight in the east.

Are there set times you can stop your AdWords or can advertisers set anytime?