Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I think Google serves good results to advertisers with adwords and helps webmasters to profit from our efforts with adsense, pretty muchh a win-win-win scenario, when I compare it with the traffic capping of Looksmart and blatent he who pays wins strategies of some others.
A look at the upcoming New York AD:Tech Conference reveals a continued embrace of cyberspace. Sessions include forums on affiliate marketing, SEM, a Google Breakfast Forum, etc.
You'd think it's a gold rush, only it's not just Google, but a multitude, who are out there selling shovels.
As for discussions about traditional advertisers entering the fray, I initiated a discussion this very morning. Feel free to jump in.
<edit - can't spell without morning coffee>
Folks keep forgetting that Google did *NOT* come up with idea. They just implemented it in a bigger way. They bought Applied Semantics who was working with others first. Since the others were able to do this with the help of Applied Semantics software they may take a step back since obviously they can't use it anymore.
I gotta have my coffee as well!
The first as I see it is the reduced number of people selecting Google CPM ads offered through the ad networks (per the show only 1 Google ad guideline). Of course, those who put Adsense code directly into their site and find that it does not work for them will then revert back to the Google CPM ads served through the ad networks.
I would like to know how the other publishers are using Adsense vis-a-vis the other ad networks. Are they:
(a) using Adsense in addition to their traditional ad network, putting in the Adsense code alongside the other ad creatives supplied by their ad networks?
(b)are the publishers altogether dumping the ad networks and concentrating on Google? This can be the mode of action for those who have been earning pennies on their banner ads and decide to simply concentrate on the real income generating source. If this is the case, how are the ad networks responding? Or are will the number of publishers adopting this stance be big enough to actually concern the ad networks?
This is a strategy designed for those who want to work jointly with Google and the ad networks to maximize their ad earnings. I am not sure if any of the ad networks have made this work so far and if they are already offering this capability to their publishers. If this works, this is a good strategy for ad intermediaries to hold on to their publishers.
I think it is advantageous to ad networks. By providing this feature, they will stop the exodus of publishers who will now remove their ad codes for Adsense. For example, a site using an ad network leaderboard may hesitate removing the ad network code to replace it with Google leaderboards IF they can simply add the Adsense code as a default in the ad network's leaderboard code. Instead of choosing between ad network vs. Adsense, the publisher can now have the ad network + Adsense. Then they can simply deselect the Google CPM ads from their RON campaigns and serve Adsense as a default.
If ad networks can make this work and Google cooperates - "IF" the operative word here - then ad networks can tell their publishers: "Hey don't remove my codes because I am now able to make Adsense work for you as a default."
In fact, some publishers using ad networks are saying to hold off hardcoding the Google codes onto their pages and simply wait for ad networks to allow this functionality.
I saw a post in an ad network forum the other day of a member saying goodbye from the network because the network has not been able to give them the revenues they need. They will now be concentrating on Adsense where they earned in one month the earnings they had for the whole year last year from the ad network. Now, that is not the kind of scenario that ad networks will not want to see.
From the content owners side I'm not sure why they would want to share revenue with the networks when they can go directly to Google.
I guess I just don't see it, my logic is flawed or I'm missing something :-)
Now here comes Adsense.
For those who are already with ad networks, the question now is how will they add Adsense to their advertising mix? If they use Adsense, will they be sacrificing the ad network's code? Afterall, how many leaderboards can you actually put in a site without it becoming an eyesore? Will the publishers have to choose between the leaderboard of the ad network OR the Google Adsense leaderboard?
Before Adsense was offered straight to publishers, Google first used the ad networks (Burst, Fastclick, etc.) and offered the text ads as a RON CPM campaign. That was an easy decision to their member publishers: simply select the Google ad.
Now, publishers with ad networks must choose as to what type of creative they can give to the ad network and what creative can be used for Google. They can maybe strike a compromise: use Adsense as a skyscraper (or some other type)while use the ad network for leaderboards or banners (or some other type).
If the ad network can make Adsense work as a default, then publishers will not be faced with that decision: they can continue using the ad networks' skyscapers (for example) as they have done so for the last year, then serve Adsense when the ad networks cannot provide paid ads.
As to doing an in-house solution (another text based ad), sure they can do so. But the popularity of Adsense is so strong that publishers MAY be changing their views as to which better serves them in terms of online advertising.
The relevance of ad networks can be at stake here. I don't know.
As a publisher using a chain of ad networks in the past few years, I have been rethinking how to maximize my earnings. As such, I have refused to implement the ad networks' leaderboards and instead used Google's Adsense. I still use them for skys and banners, but I removed them from my homepage and critical pages. In short, I have given my premium impressions to Adsense, and drastically reduced the impressions that I am giving to the ad networks.
For someone using an ad network, this is an interesting topic. Glad I came out of my lurker mode.
That's what they have now and the worst is still coming.
Perhaps we are looking at it from a different point of view. I guess I'm thinking that if I'm an ad network and I make this available to my current customers as default and they are indeed making more money with this versus other ads in my network then where is my real value to anyone any more?
I don't have my own contextual product so I can't make money there.
I'm serving less and less of traditional ads so I'm making less money there.
I can still make money from the folks who still use me but if they realize they are serving mostly adsense ads then why would they stay with me in the long run if they can go to Google directly so I'll lose money there.
As an interim solution it might work. Long term I see it as the death of other networks.
I see as an eventual scenario where Adsense will be used by content publishers currently making a killing on it; while for those that fall by Adsense's wayside, the ad networks can still allow them to leverage their site for online advertising.
I think we have already seen that some sites are suitable for Adsense, while some cannot get targeted ads for the type of their content. Those who cannot get targeted ads from Google may find it more worthwhile to participate or continue with the ad networks.
As Mauricio pointed out, that's the question the ad networks should start asking themselves.
1. Ad networks are trying to make Adsense work as their default
2. They are now working harder to get better paying ads from better advertisers (I can dream, can I?) to increase their publishers' revenues and hopefully match Adsense.
When Google dumps the software solution they have now from Applied Semantics and realize there are much better ways to target then the others can be brought on board :-)
I really do think the networks are in trouble.
Interesting side note. OK, maybe only interesting to me....
I know of a group (heard it from the bagger at the grocery store who new the cousin of one of the owners daughters sons friend) that approached some of the networks quite some time ago. He suggested to them that they get on baord with this type of advertising. The answer was nope. Then Google started doing it and the suggestion was made again. The response was something such as - yeah right, Google is a search engine and we believe them when they say that's what they want to be even as we see them changing to a network so go away kid and leave us alone as we're making money hand and foot now so we're not going to change. Plus we're making money from Google buying the ron. We're right, you're wrong.
If the story is true then I really don't have much sympathy for them either :-)
And yes, Mauricio was absolutely correct.
There will be some who will not be inclined to dump the ad networks out of sheer loyalty, tried-and-tested stick-with-us through the pits of online advertising.
And yes, I've noticed an uptick, albeit small, in terms of CPM and CPA rates from the ad networks. Bigger advertisers are coming back. In fact in one network, one topic of their discussion is "The return of web advertising." I dunno how Adsense contributed to that, if it ever did, or whether the increase in the quality and payouts is a direct function of the economy, better sales people, increase marketing budgets, or some other variables.
Also glad to here an upswing in what you see from cpm and cpa rates. Good news for all.
AdSense works best with targeted niche sites where readers are likely to be interested in what's being advertised. In this respect, AdSense is like special-interest consumer publications and trade magazines.
Traditional ad networks, on the other hand, work best on general-interest news and entertainment sites that can deliver huge numbers of impressions for mass-market products and services.
IMHO, it makes little sense for a site like washingtonpost.com to be running Google "content partner" (AdSense) ads, just as it would make little sense for a site about Irish canal cruising to be running banner ads for Tide, Ford SUVs, or Coke.
As a publisher, I would jump on any program -- whether it is from Google or not -- that could give me real revenues and fits well with my objectives :o) I suppose publishers are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to leverage their site.
Plus, the buzz for Adsense has been extremely strong. But the program is still so new and we don't know how it will look like a few months down the road.
One question is: will the niche sites leave the ad networks for Adsense and only the general sites be left with the ad networks? Or will there be an intersection somewhere between the two? And how will this move affect the ad networks?
One question is: will the niche sites leave the ad networks for Adsense and only the general sites be left with the ad networks? Or will there be an intersection somewhere between the two? And how will this move affect the ad networks?
In theory, some of the ad networks offer targeted advertising. In practice, they seldom deliver on that promise. And even when they can deliver targeted advertising (such as airline ads on travel sites, for example), the targeting and the CPM isn't likely to match what a niche site on a commercial site can earn from AdSense ads.
Europe...as adsense enforces the TOS for similiar text ads....do you think this will sqeeze the traditional mass advertisers?
I don't see why. Traditional mass advertisers don't use text ads.
In fact, if Google can get the masses to join the program then I don't see why they wouldn't eventially get to the point where they say no more blue hyperlinks for anyone else anymore as it looks to similiar to ours :-)
The latter certainly won't happen. And Google can't tighten up its definition of what it considers to be "competing text ads" without losing the publishers it needs most. If it were to forbid affiliate links, for example, it would lose sites like mine that earn twice as much from affiliate links as they do from AdSense. The more commercial a topic is, the less willing a publisher will be to let Google dictate terms. The people at Google are smart enough to realize that demanding exclusivity would relegate AdSense to being a program for hobby sites, information sites on topics with little commercial potential, and other Web sites with limited revenue options.
Many publishers are adopting the wait-and-see attitude: they want to be assured first that Google will be with them for the long haul. They don't want to make the mistake of dumping their ad networks only to find that Google Adsense is no more, or as you pointed out, payouts have dramatically decreased.
Yep, with a good ad-servicing setup a publisher can change the percentage of delivery by network within a matter of minutes, even down to assigning one network to specific zones within their publications. Then, you just watch and wait. The old Flycast days taught A) never sign an exclusive and B) never move all your inventory at once.
Why do you think publishers are running to Adsense? The money! They just want maximise their ROI, just like any retailer, wholesaler, or manufacturer. They know that a better targeted ad is far more valuable to them as well as an advertiser. Rather that an ad for coke on a page that talks about bagpipes, Adsense shows sites that sell bagpipes and with little to no management (cuts a few employees and a bunch of time).
Advertisers and ad agencies had the upper hand and I see that the tide's a changing. As publishers we have sent out a message exclaiming "No More!" just by switching to Adense.
