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At last,
the contents of Aardvark's "million-dollar ideas" notebook
are revealed for all to see!
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If ever the Internet Industry was in need of a lighten-up Friday, this is the
time. Yahoo's sobering acknowledgement that the ad-funded publishing model
is stuffed (at least for the time being) must be worrying a whole lot of others
who rely on ad revenues to survive.
But enough of all that depressing stuff -- on with the fun, wierdness and
interesting:
The Enterprise Mission
Yes folks -- NASA was involved in a blatant cover-up to suppress photographic
evidence that there is intelligent life on Mars. Visit and find out all about
it (oh yea!).
Lostech Archive
Is this Kiwi guy from Piha mad or just trying to make lots of money out of other loons?
Radio Brain Control
See a picture of "L. Ron Hubbard Treating Vegetables Badly" and find a very
large list of other wierd and wacky sites on the Web.
Worrying Times?
Have Yahoo's announcements of yesterday cast a large shadow over the future
of the New Economy?
Hell no -- but it has given ad-funded online publishing a pretty powerful kick
in the reproductive organs.
Those Net-based industries which aren't reliant on selling advertising to
turn a buck really shouldn't be too worried about the knee-jerk reaction
that will inevitably ripple across all sectors of the Net marketplace.
Naturally investors will tremble a little and ask themselves "if Yahoo is having
trouble how can anyone succeed?" Such reflections are just an indication
that there are still only an incredibly small number of people out there who
actually "get it" in respect to the Internet.
I've been issuing warnings that the ad-funded online publishing model (in its present form) is doomed
for a very long time now -- but it's taken quite a while for this simple
realisation to dawn on key players -- such as the ad industry for instance.
Let's face it -- there is simply so much webspace out there that we have a massive
oversupply of ad-space. Whenever there's a massive oversupply and relatively
fixed or declining demand, prices fall accordingly.
A quick calculation: Google tells us that it has indexed some 1.3 billion
webpages. If we assume that just 50 percent of those have space for
ad-banners then we have 650 million pages ready, willing and able to carry
banners. Let's assume that each page gets (say) a very conservative 3 visitors
a day -- that's nearly 2 billion potential ad-banner impressions a day.
Perhaps oversupply was an understatement?
What's worse -- the big publishers (who really need the ad money) are often
not a good place to put your ads. Sites such as CNN.com can't really target
their advertising to the same level as, say, a popular homepage that provides
a raft of information on skiing, skateboarding, a popular recording artist,
or whatever.
These smaller sites which are extremely focused on a particular subject represent
100 percent perfect targeting for advertisers -- but there are so many of them
and the subject material is so diverse that most the ad networks seem to have been
uninterested in resolving their targeting systems to this fine level of granularity.
No, the ad-industry still doesn't get the Net and, as a result, all their clients
are suffering. Come on guys -- get out of the banner-trap (even those big ads are
just banners on steroids). Let's see some innovation and focus on producing advertising
that is non-intrusive but effective (no, it's not impossible -- it just requires
some lateral thinking).
Hmm.. I wonder if I should put my money where my mouth is and start an online
ad network?
As always, your feedback is welcomed.
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Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it
now!
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