AdSense Custom Placement Packs Program

I've noticed an uptick in non-text based ads in the 300x250 box that I've been using on Google even before the "Custom Placement" e-mail.

This morning I discovered the presence of a well-known car manufacturer ad with a YouTube-esque play button in the middle of the image. Of course I didn't click on my own ad, but I found it interesting nonetheless.

ATF = Above The Fold?

Yes.

So the advertiser friendly channel should be labelled 300x250-atf or similar.

ok - I created a "custom" channel code 300x250 ATF
however, as I only use url channels to monitor my pages
because I only have one ad block per pages... can I just add the same code to several pages... as I will know which pages they are... and can see if these new ads do in fact increase my bottom line?

You can add more than one channel; so, for example, the ad on one site could be 300x250 ATF & site-1, and the ad on another could be 300x250 ATF & site-2.

So you can monitor both ad-type and site.

Or you could go for 300x250 ATF & site-1 & location-1 and 300x250 ATF & site-2 & location-2 - allowing you to monitor each separate placing, each site and each ad-type.

I think one ad code can have up to five 'channels' attatched

Goodbye green tax flashies, hello Pontiac video ads! This should be interesting!

No email here but the system was turned on for me anyway without any limitations or requirements on what size and location I need to use.

I have very limited advertising/adsense on my site but I do have a 250x250 box above the fold (it fits perfectly into the template) and a large banner accross the bottom of each forum page. I "turned on" only the footer banner, curious to see what revenue will do.

I've been also invited to join Custom Placement Packs Program, and I did.

Today, I got an email from Google asking me to change description for the custom ads placements with '300x250 ATF' in order to let advertisers know that I've placed medium rectangles above the fold on my site.

Earnings are pretty much the same, only eCPM is a bit higher. We'll see how it goes on long term. I guess it'll be a couple of months before we can see the real effect from Custom Placement Packs Program.

When they say ATF (above the fold) -- do they mean on an 800 x 600 screen.

With which browser? With what toolbars, etc?

ATF may mean "in the top 300 pixels" of the actual page content...

What's the discrimination here?

I created a "custom" channel code 300x250 ATF

I may be wrong but, I think they are refering to placing 300x250 ATF in the description box. This way advertisers will know that you are displaying a 300x250 ad block above the fold.

[google.com...]

5.

Click the checkbox marked Show this channel to advertisers as an ad placement and enter a description for your channel. Keep in mind that advertisers will see the name and description, so you want to provide something accurate and informative that will represent your site well.

[google.com ]

Thanks!

That's just what I needed. Google should have put that URL into the initial email they sent to us!

Well, we've been on the Custom Placement Packs for a week now, and I can definitely say that we are making around 25% less revenue than before. The CTR for the 300x250 is around half the CTR of the previous layout (720x90), and the value per click seems to be a bit less as well.

Not a very good deal.

I took off those ads. My money was down and the ads really weren't any different. It made my site look less "reputable" and a bit spammy. I would have loved more video ads as a test, but I only got a few and they weren't related to my topic. I'm interested in how it goes for others.

I'm glad I passed on adding the ads to my site. I had a feeling it wouldn't be a good thing.

Both my CTR and my value-per-click are way down with the 300x250 sized ads.

( Yes, I did set up the channel descriptors correctly etc )

I just saw an ad on my website:

"Want #*$!x ccccc? Save time & money call us at (#*$!) #*$!-#*$!x"

The ad is by ******************.COM

It not only displays the advertiser's phone number, it gets a FREE ride on our website. The ad makes Google money, but it not necessarily makes me money. Because the ad in certain way encourages to call and not to click. Google says it's according to terms, but I don't think so.

Regarding the ATF and BTF 300 x 250 ad, I'm not sure if it added some revenue. For a week or more it seemed like the revenue jumped quite a bit, but then it went down a bit and even if I added many more 300 x 250 ads, the revenue stays similar, although I noticed the significant increase in variety of advertisers. Although I also noticed that the more I spend on Adwords the more I make on Adsense. If I don't spend anything on Adwords, then Adsense revenue goes down as well.

Although I also noticed that the more I spend on Adwords the more I make on Adsense. If I don't spend anything on Adwords, then Adsense revenue goes down as well.

Hmmm... I've noticed since late November that when my CTR gets higher, my value-per-click gets lower...

300x250 have petered out on my site and I'm thinking of removing them.

I didn't change my site at all. I was afraid we would get advertisers getting a massive amount of ad space, and basically a "free ride" on my website, while making my site look like another spammy page.

I tried the medium rectangle from Jan 26 until now.

On one high traffic page, CTR declined 22% and eCPM declined by 37%

On another less highly trafficked page, the same stats were about 10% and 13%, respectively.

Traffic was pretty stable/comparable.

I can't afford to do this, so I'm reverting to the large rectangle on the high traffic page.

I can appreciate Google's desire to ask publishers to help increase the pool of these ad sizes, but I can't wait indefinitely for advertisers to begin using them...

If Google really want us to do this, they need to provide an incentive, or at least a parity.