Mar 3 2008

MerchSense Makes Sense for Higher Yield

Posted by Tran Tinh in WidgetBucks
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Behind the scenes at WidgetBucks we’ve been working to improve MerchSense, our contextual algorithm. One way we’re doing this is by implementing YieldSense(tm), which is technology that automatically generates the highest possible yield for publisher ad placements, and we’re nearly ready to publish the first phase of these improvements. Starting as early as this weekend or Monday, U.S. and Canada visitors on sites that are running MerchSense will begin seeing short-duration display advertising running before WidgetBucks’ traditional shopping widgets. This hybrid CPM display ad/PPC shopping widget combination is intended to help improve effective CPM (eCPM), while maintaining a great e-commerce experience through our widgets. Here is a summary of what is being announced:

Display ads will begin running before WidgetBucks’ shopping widgets — the duration and advertisers will be dynamic to best optimize for the eCPM of your individual site
Only U.S. and Canada visitors on sites running MerchSense will see the hybrid CPM display ad/PPC shopping widget (non-U.S. and Canada traffic continues to pay on a CPM basis)
Display ads are site-category specific and include major corporations as advertisers
Revenue earned through the display ads will appear within publishers’ MyWidgets pages, and be included in the roll-up and pie-chart displays, as well as the “CPM Ads” tab
Only widgets configured for MerchSense will initially be able to take advantage of this automated yield optimization
As a reminder, MerchSense works best with product-specific sites and blogs rather than sites covering affiliate tools or online money making

One final note about display advertising: according to a JP Morgan report released in January, online display advertising is expected to jump 20 percent to $8.6 billion this year.