In a quiet and small-scale experiment, Google is running classified-like ads in the pages of the Sun-Times, which so far is the only newspaper participating in the Web-search behemoth's test.
So is this good, bad or indifferent for publishers?
It just supports a prediction that I've been making all along: that AdWords/AdSense is a platform that will continue to evolve, with product extensions that go far beyond the current (and largely undifferentiated) AdSense "content network."
I think we'll see more segmentation within AdSense, too, as the network evolves beyond AdSense 1.x.
What do you mean by segmentation?
Tiers or subsets of the AdSense network.
One thing I've suggested here is for AdSense to let "value-added resellers" such as ad agencies, media-buying services, rep firms, etc. use an API to set up lists of approved sites in vertical niches. For example, a rep firm in the travel sector could maintain a database of manually vetted sites and assemble customized lists for individual clients (e.g., editorial sites that focus on the Caribbean, or editorial and e-commerce sites that are geared to adventure travelers). This would increase sales opportunities for Google, and it would serve the needs of advertisers who lack the expertise or the comfort level required to buy ads in the PPC market's current Wild West environment.
There's nothing really new about this idea, by the way: It's just a variation on customized mailing lists, which direct-response agencies have been assembling from mailing-list vendors' databases for years.
wondering, i was happy when world was movign from paper to electonic media. guess, going back to print is just completing the circle.
I am thinking of registering a newspaper in the name of my website.. god known when google announces adsense for print publishers..
kindaa funny