Yahoo Ads: The Experiment Begins
I received an invitation to join Yahoo's Publisher Network (YPN) today. Judging by the new Yahoo ads lining Indiepub's pages, you can see that I wholeheartedly accepted that invitation.And so my YPN experiment begins. A few weeks ago I suggested that the entrance of Yahoo into the contextual ad market would trigger a financial windfall for publishers. The jury is still out on that prognostication (after all, YPN is only in beta), but early reports from Webmaster World and JenSense suggest that irrational exuberance should be curbed. It seems those dreams of $5 clicks just aren't coming true ...
In head-to-head competition, AdSense appears to have higher click-through rates (CTR) and better targeting. YPN is showing higher earnings per click (EPC).
Keep in mind that these results are very early. AdSense is an established and sophisticated ad network that has more than two years' worth of data and testing. YPN is just entering this market, so it likely has fewer advertisers and rudimentary targeting algorithms. My guess is that it'll be three months -- at best -- before reliable data is available for YPN beta publishers.
I'm certainly in no hurry. To me, YPN is worth a shot simply because competition almost always benefits the consumer (or in this case, the publisher). In time, I may look to roll YPN to one of my more popular sites to see what kind of revenue is really possible (Indiepub isn't exactly pulling in massive traffic figures just yet).
I'd like to know what other YPN beta testers are finding (without violating the terms of service, of course). Are your YPN numbers encouraging? -- Mac Slocum
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