Finally and hopefully we can see some significant competition for Google Adsense. Yahoo has launched the Beta of their Yahoo Publisher Network, YPN, yesterday August 3rd.
Google has owned the publisher contextual ad space for more than two years now. There have been a number of companies who have made a run at them, for example, Quigo, Kanoodle, eMiniMalls, Chitika, and even Commission Junction with a short-lived text-ad product based on conversion-based-relevancy rather than contextual relevancy. The idea was that context feels right, but isn’t necessarily the best converting ads.
CJ Evolution did not go well to say the least. Google was probably the single largest reason for the failure of CJ Evolution. The timing was very bad, as at the time the publisher base was in love, even infatuated, with Adsense and getting them to displace Adsense for anything else was just an absurd thought.
But times are different now. Google bought the publishers’ love with high payouts. But as time goes on, like any love affair, the emotion eases up and the brain can actually get involved and you start to see faults.
I think the timing is good for Yahoo. More and more, I’m hearing publishers who are interested in finding alternatives to Adsense, whether they’ve been disappointed with the EPC they’re getting or they’ve been rejected or deactivated from the network (rightly or wrongly).
Yahoo has an opportunity with the name, exposure, and a big second mover advantage to put on just the right makeup to look more attractive to publishers who have the “two year itch.”
With other new PPC offerings in the works from Microsoft and Ask Jeeves, this will indeed get very interesting.
More Information
Apply to the Yahoo Publisher Network
Inside the Yahoo Publisher Network Beta from JenSense Jen is in the Beta Program and has broken the silence now that they’ve launched.
Beth Kirsch has a few words about the announcement
The Wall Street Journal reports on the news, plus info about Microsoft and Ask Jeeves’ plans.
