Google to add CPM, other ad choices

According to the Wall Street Journal

[jonknee]

This from the Wall Street Journal today (Monday):

Among the changes: Google will let advertisers run animated display ads on non-Google content sites that contract with Google to sell ads. It will allow advertisers to specify the sites on which they want their ads to appear, without having to pick a keyword tied to the content on a page. It will begin auctioning ad placements for its partner sites based on how many people see the ad, known as cost per impression, as well as its traditional cost-per-click method.

This is huge news. The article says we should know more later today. Probably 9am ET since it's a US co.

For Wall Street Journal online subscribers, the article is titled "Google to Target Brands
In Revenue Push".

[krooga]

Concerning the fraud issue that has been raised by a few of you, I beleive a next kind of fraud will take place: bulk traffic buy. You can buy nowdayz about 20 000 unique visitors (unique IPs) for only 15$... I think this will be a real problem in the near future if this CPM system is to take off...

[creepychris]

I'm curious: As the system is, how can CPM advertising possibly work? Other networks usually ensure that their ads appear above the fold or not adjacent to other ads etc. Google doesn't have these kinds of stipulations. This represents a real opportunity for publishers to game their advertisers, which ruins the whole system of ad buying and selling. The beauty of the CPC model is that if I try to hide the ads or crowd the ads out, they don't get clicked and hence the advertiser isn't cheated. We all know a banner above the fold is worth more than a banner below the fold. How will Google take this into account?

[ Google CPM ad placed here ]

[jomaxx]

That's probably one reason why sites have to be specifically opted in. However from a ROI or cost-per-click point of view the math should work out the same in the long run:

Say the ad block is at the bottom of the page and only gets 1/2 the clicks of a top-of-fold ad block. The CTR is only half of what it would otherwise be, and thus the effective CPM is only half as well. As a result the CPM advertiser ends up paying only half of what a top-of-fold placement would cost.