Tuesday
If You Liked the Web Page, You'll Love the Ad
By BOB TEDESCHI
Two Internet companies, Google and Overture, have made a brisk business of selling ads that appear alongside Web search results. But so far, the big customers for these ad services have been online merchants and operators of search sites. Now, though, online publishers are beginning to sense the possibilities of having Google or Overture serve ads to their audiences.
Publishers, including The Washington Post's Web site, which is owned by The Washington Post Company, and the car-buyers advice site Edmunds.com, have turned to Google or Overture to sell ads pegged to the content that each visitor selects. When a visitor goes to the Book World page on WashingtonPost.com, for example, the person is likely to see a text ad for a self-publishing company or some other book-related advertisement, placed there by Google's advertising service.
"This is a very important trend, particularly for Web publishers who've had a hard time selling out their banner ads," said Jordan Rohan, an analyst with the Soundview Technology Group, an investment firm. "This is the bridge between Web content and search."
The new service is an extension of the bid-for-placement service pioneered by Overture, in which marketers pay for their ad to appear atop search results whenever an Internet user types a certain word or phrase. Under that approach, when an Internet user enters "airline tickets" as a search query, for example, the text ad of the merchant who has bid the most will appear atop the results on Overture.com. The same approach works on Overture clients like Yahoo Inc., which recently agreed to acquire Overture, and the Microsoft Corporation's MSN. Bids range from a dime or so to $1.50 or more for terms like airline tickets. The average fee is 40 cents.
A similar system is used by Google on its own Google.com site as well as by clients that include Ask Jeeves Inc. and AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online.
When serving ads for content sites, both Overture and Google employ technology that infers the topic of a page by scanning for words and phrases, searching through a database of tens of thousands of advertisers, then delivering a relevant text ad. In some cases that is not difficult. For instance, on Weather.com's golf forecast page for Norfolk, Va., Google's service � which it calls AdSense � can deliver ads for marketers who had bid to have their ads appear above Google search results whenever users type "Norfolk Virginia golf courses" or some similar phrase.
Joe Fiveash, the senior vice president for business and product development at Weather Channel Interactive Inc., which operates the site Weather.com, said that while the site had no shortage of large national advertisers, it did not have the sales force or the technology to efficiently insert ads of smaller advertisers in niches left open by the large advertisers.
Mr. Fiveash noted the prospect of finding local golf ads on the Norfolk, Va., golf forecast page, and said: "We don't call on the Norfolk golf courses. That's the gap we've been able to fill."
Neither the privately held Weather Channel Interactive nor Google would disclose financial details of the advertising agreement, but Mr. Fiveash said the revenue generated by the program "is certainly material to us."
The technology is not yet foolproof. The online edition of The New York Post, which is owned by the News Corporation, ran an article last month about a murder in which the victim's body parts were packed in a suitcase, and Google served up an ad for a luggage dealer.
"We are working with Google to fine-tune this program," said Suzanne Halpin, a New York Post spokeswoman. "We take it on a case-by-case basis and do our best to remove inappropriate ads."
Susan Wojcicki, Google's director of product management, said the company was learning from experience and refining its technology to recognize situations where marketers would not want their ads to run, while also letting publishers delete inappropriate ads.
Despite the occasional stumble, Ms. Wojcicki said Google's AdSense program had performed well, both technically and financially. Google does not release revenue figures, but Ms. Wojcicki said the company has attracted a growing n
By BOB TEDESCHI
Two Internet companies, Google and Overture, have made a brisk business of selling ads that appear alongside Web search results. But so far, the big customers for these ad services have been online merchants and operators of search sites. Now, though, online publishers are beginning to sense the possibilities of having Google or Overture serve ads to their audiences.
Publishers, including The Washington Post's Web site, which is owned by The Washington Post Company, and the car-buyers advice site Edmunds.com, have turned to Google or Overture to sell ads pegged to the content that each visitor selects. When a visitor goes to the Book World page on WashingtonPost.com, for example, the person is likely to see a text ad for a self-publishing company or some other book-related advertisement, placed there by Google's advertising service.
"This is a very important trend, particularly for Web publishers who've had a hard time selling out their banner ads," said Jordan Rohan, an analyst with the Soundview Technology Group, an investment firm. "This is the bridge between Web content and search."
The new service is an extension of the bid-for-placement service pioneered by Overture, in which marketers pay for their ad to appear atop search results whenever an Internet user types a certain word or phrase. Under that approach, when an Internet user enters "airline tickets" as a search query, for example, the text ad of the merchant who has bid the most will appear atop the results on Overture.com. The same approach works on Overture clients like Yahoo Inc., which recently agreed to acquire Overture, and the Microsoft Corporation's MSN. Bids range from a dime or so to $1.50 or more for terms like airline tickets. The average fee is 40 cents.
A similar system is used by Google on its own Google.com site as well as by clients that include Ask Jeeves Inc. and AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online.
When serving ads for content sites, both Overture and Google employ technology that infers the topic of a page by scanning for words and phrases, searching through a database of tens of thousands of advertisers, then delivering a relevant text ad. In some cases that is not difficult. For instance, on Weather.com's golf forecast page for Norfolk, Va., Google's service � which it calls AdSense � can deliver ads for marketers who had bid to have their ads appear above Google search results whenever users type "Norfolk Virginia golf courses" or some similar phrase.
Joe Fiveash, the senior vice president for business and product development at Weather Channel Interactive Inc., which operates the site Weather.com, said that while the site had no shortage of large national advertisers, it did not have the sales force or the technology to efficiently insert ads of smaller advertisers in niches left open by the large advertisers.
Mr. Fiveash noted the prospect of finding local golf ads on the Norfolk, Va., golf forecast page, and said: "We don't call on the Norfolk golf courses. That's the gap we've been able to fill."
Neither the privately held Weather Channel Interactive nor Google would disclose financial details of the advertising agreement, but Mr. Fiveash said the revenue generated by the program "is certainly material to us."
The technology is not yet foolproof. The online edition of The New York Post, which is owned by the News Corporation, ran an article last month about a murder in which the victim's body parts were packed in a suitcase, and Google served up an ad for a luggage dealer.
"We are working with Google to fine-tune this program," said Suzanne Halpin, a New York Post spokeswoman. "We take it on a case-by-case basis and do our best to remove inappropriate ads."
Susan Wojcicki, Google's director of product management, said the company was learning from experience and refining its technology to recognize situations where marketers would not want their ads to run, while also letting publishers delete inappropriate ads.
Despite the occasional stumble, Ms. Wojcicki said Google's AdSense program had performed well, both technically and financially. Google does not release revenue figures, but Ms. Wojcicki said the company has attracted a growing n
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