I wonder how successful these Independent Ad Networks will be.

The clients may be huge (i.e. Ask Jeeves, Wiki) but I wonder about the quality of the ad systems and results for the advertiser.

AdWords has set expectations high. Are huge content sites going to be able to manage an advertising network in addition to the bread and butter.

"Why are ads on Wikipedia unthinkable? Because Jimmy Wales is gathering authority and content, waiting for his search project to launch. Don't be surprised if the Wikipedia contains ads soon after Wikisaria's ad program launches."

As far as I know, most of the board of the Wikimedia Foundation is opposed to these, as do many Wikipedia users and administrators.

Remember that Jimmy Wales is pushing Wikia, his company... not Wikipedia, which is independent from this company.

Hi Aaron,
Big fan of your work really. :-)

Some constructive feedback here - its pretty hard to understand what you're trying to say. I think if you keep your sentences short, simple and straight to the point, you will be clear and have more feedback/comments.

I know you have jewels to share and this is why i have you on bloglines. But man, its kinda tough reading your posts. I always have to think about what you're trying to communicate.

- David

Already PPC advertisers have three major companies to deal with -- Google, Yahoo, and MSN. MSN delivers may be 2-3% of the traffic Google does.

Throw in other networks, and you might be looking at a fraction of a percentage point. Most advertisers won't bother. However, it does open great arbitrage opportunities.

Andrew it depends on how tailored the sites that use these smaller ad networks are. I think Wikipedia and ads could work out very well and even some universities might jump on the bandwagon and offer more of their research together with ads.