Google AdSense begins rich media beta test
January 26, 2006
Google AdSense is moving beyond the traditional text and graphical advertising to rich media, including interstitials, expanding ads and floating ads. AdSense began contacting publishers last week to be involved in the rich media limited beta test.
The campaigns will likely be site targeted, rather than contextual, but details on the actual implementation of these new ads are still under wraps. With these kind of top-secret beta tests, NDAs are often requirements before being accepted into it.
Floating ads are ads that either stay on top as the page is scrolled, or ones that “float in” from the side of the page to the center of the page. Expanding ads are those that require user interaction to expand, either with a mouseover or a click. Interstitials are perhaps the most interesting addition to this rich media beta, because they are a format that people love to hate, and that are often more annoying than pop-ups. You have likely stumbled across an interstitial ad - they appear when you click through to read a page, and before they will show you the page, you are bypassed through to a full page ad that you must view before seeing the actual content you were wanting, often by having to click a link on the interstitial ad page.
No further details are known about the new rich media beta test, but I will see what I can find out. I can probably safely say that this is an invite-only beta test to which only a small number of publishers were invited to. So emailing the AdSense team for an invite to this beta probably wouldn’t work. But the good news is that often beta tests are turned into features that all publishers can utilize, so if you are interested in implementing rich media through AdSense, keep your fingers crossed and it may be added in the future.
This is definitely a departure from the usual text ads as well as the image and Flash ads in standard ad unit sizes that AdSense usually runs. Rich media ads are usually associated with companies such as Fastclick, PointRoll and Falk eSolutions, so the fact that AdSense is making inroads on this territory is quite significant. If AdSense offered rich media to all publishers, it could really hurt competitor companies offering similar rich media ad formats because of the vast number of publishers that AdSense has.
And if AdSense did offer rich media to all publishers, they could easily add a new clause that would mean companies such as Fastclick and PointRoll would suddenly be competitive ads and not be permitted on the same pages as AdSense. Many AdSense publishers implement rich media ads to compliment AdSense, and as non-contextual, most of these ad products are well within the AdSense terms. But if AdSense decided to not permit rich media ads on pages also running AdSense or AdSense rich media style ads, this could mean that many publishers would drop competitor’s ads and just show AdSense… as well as those advertisers flocking to AdWords to get their rich media creatives showing through the AdSense program.
In terms of dominating the online advertising market, AdSense rich media could seal the deal to make AdSense the force to be reckoned with, by not only dominating the online text ad and graphical banner-style advertising, but in the entire online advertising market. Definitely a story to watch.
Posted in Google AdSense
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January 26th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
Wasn’t the selling point of AdSense that the adverts were unobtrusive?
January 26th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Now they just need to make an option for Link Units to automatically be embedded as hyperlinks on existing words/phrases on the page (I think Clicksor has an option to do this).
Not sure if I would use it myself, but it would be nice to have the option.
January 26th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
Google Adsense Interstitials & Floating Ads? It’s Coming
Google AdSense is moving beyond the traditional text and graphical advertising to rich media, including interstitials, expanding ads and floating ads. AdSense began contacting publishers last week to be involved in the rich media limited beta test. The…
January 26th, 2006 at 2:17 pm
Google Changes Strategy from Search to Annoying You
JenSense reports on the day I hoped would never come, but, alas, it appears to have reared its ugly head.
Google AdSense is moving beyond the traditional text and gra
January 26th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Google Adsense con Rich Media Beta
De nuevo, gracias a fuentes americanas como Searchenginewatch o Jensense nos enteramos de que Google est
January 26th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
Google testet Anzeigen im Rich Media Format
Google AdSense testet erstmals Anzeigen im Rich Media Format. Dazu geh
January 26th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Another hack :http://imol.gotdns.com/staticpages/index.php?page=Andy-Maloney-Geeklog-Software
January 26th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
This is a scary proposition. While it would be good initially, Google is already a dominant player and with their anti-competitive TOS agreement they could gain monopoly power (which in the long run is bad for publishers). But in the meantime, ride the wave.
January 26th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
I don’t like this at all, because I don’t like any of these kinds of ads! If these ad types become a normal part of AdSense, I really hope I have the option to not run them.
January 26th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
Google Rich Ads
Google Rich Ads: Google is reportedly ready to start beta-testing rich-media ads in AdSense — different from their AdWords rich-media, somehow. Anyway, if you make up a nice SWF that promotes Falun Gong, I’ll sponsor its AdSense placement on People’s …
January 26th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
Google AdSense begins rich media beta test - JenSense.com
JenSense.com says AdSense is going rich media. What a shame, AdSense to me has always been the mercedes benz of advertising on the web. They do everything with subtlety, providing content sensitive advertising without annoying the reader.
I think …
January 26th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
I don’t think they would change their “competitive ad” guidelines. Currently they don’t restrict based on how an ad is displayed… only if it’s contextual. And I really don’t see that changing.
January 26th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
The immediate problem Google is running into is not competition but rather ad blindness. Gradually people are tuning the text ads out. Bumping up to banners is only the first step and at least Google has the guts to admit that is what it is looking to do.
However, the longer term problem is that the advertsing model is going to be surplanted.
January 26th, 2006 at 8:41 pm
Do you think the ad blindness can happen suddenly? it took about 2 years for banner ads to have their effectiveness drop off a cliff.
text ads seem “better” in that as long as you remove the borders around them and match the fonts to your site, many users will not even be able to tell they ARE ads at all.. thus they’ll never be able to “tune them out” because they think those links are just part of the webpage content.
January 26th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
I believe, Google is now heading for a self inflicted doom like what happened to the banner ads in 90s.
I bet, Yahoo! would do the same sooner than later.
January 26th, 2006 at 11:16 pm
Google AdSense hakkab kasutama h
January 27th, 2006 at 1:28 am
Adsense testing rich media ads
Google Adsense has contacted some publishers to test interstitials, expanding and floating rich media ads on their sites.
The campaigns will likely be site targeted, rather than contextual, but details on the actual implementation of these new ads are…
January 27th, 2006 at 1:36 am
Google AdSense Moving Into Rich Media Ads
Rich media encompasses those ads you see like interstitials, expanding ads that open up in browser when you hover over them and floating ads which are those that stay in a fixed position while you scroll or move into the…
January 27th, 2006 at 1:38 am
I hate rich media ads as well. As long as they only offer it as an option then I’m not too concerned, but if it limits you to AdSense only ads in the TOS this could be a mistake on Googles part.
January 27th, 2006 at 3:27 am
Adsense to be more annoying
According to this post on Jensense.com Google are apparently planning to bring in more “rich” advertising to Adsense, including intersitals, floating and expanding ads.
In other words, adsense goes from nice, subtle text ads (which I’m happy to have…
January 27th, 2006 at 3:43 am
Hi Jennifer - what’s with the Google Page rank of zero? I know this is a new site, but I could have sworn it was a 3 or 4 the other day….Canonical issues, or are you in the penalty box for divulging too much?
Great info here, by the way.
Chase
January 27th, 2006 at 4:27 am
I use the Firefox AdBlock extension to block any ads that move, blink, or otherwise annoy. So if Google’s “rich media” ads are served from the same server as ordinary AdSense, I’ll end up blocking the latter too…
January 27th, 2006 at 6:02 am
Google AdSense Rich Media Ads In Beta
It was recently reported yesterday (January 26, 2006) on JenSense that Google AdSense has moved its rich media ads into the Beta phase with certain publishers. Somewhat Frank was not one of the publishers. Nonetheless, this could be a
January 27th, 2006 at 6:14 am
Chase, the main page is still a PR6, and the older internal pages have PR. I am guessing you were looking at a brand new internal page without PR yet.
January 27th, 2006 at 6:21 am
Google Testing Rich Media Ads
According to JenSense, a great blog about contextual advertising, Google is conducting a limited rich media test, including interstitials, floating and expandable ad units. There are still many details that unclear as to the specifics of the test. But …
January 27th, 2006 at 7:21 am
Novedades Adsense: L
January 27th, 2006 at 1:27 pm
I find this news really funny. People that run ad supported sites have known for many years that popups can convert really well. However, Google wanted nothing to do with popups going so far as to not allow sites with popups to advertise through AdWords. I guess if this test proves successful, which I feel it will, then sites using Google AdSense will no longer be able to advertise on Google AdWords. I imagine Google will either change their AdWords terms or say there is a big difference between popup and floating ads.
January 27th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
Google Tests Rich Media Ads
Spotted via JenSense is news that Google is working with some select AdSense advertisers to begin testing rich media ads. The new ad formats include expanding ads, floating ads and interstitial ads and are likely going to be site targeted…
January 27th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
As a general rule, I NEVER click pop-ups or any other sort of intrusive ad. I block them as often as possible. Google, I can’t believe you’re doing this. What happened to “do no evil?”
January 27th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Calling this kind of garbage “rich media” is a joke.
Ads that infringe, intrude or otherwise annoy detract and not enhance the whole “web2.0″ experience.
Leave the ads where we can see them - maybe - just maybe - if we are interested we’ll click on them.
January 27th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Do No Evil (Unless its profitable)
Google’s popular contextual ad service AdSense is rumored to be experimenting with “rich media” ads. That is, ads which are designed to annoy and interrupt the user’s browsing experience rather than blend in as supplemental text-based information. Check o
January 27th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
google is selling out.
January 27th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
AdSense in Rich Media Format?
Having conquered contextual advertising, Google is now testing rich media ads on a select group of publishers. According to Jensense this looks to be a strategic move for Google to isolate competitors in the rich media ad format space.
Google AdSens…
January 27th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
The worst site for rich media ads is the Weather Channel.
Look, I just want to check the weather, I don’t want to have to look for the little x to close the ad that’s blocking my weather data.
Google, please don’t have ads that bust out of their boxes and spew all over our sites!
January 27th, 2006 at 5:07 pm
The only type of ads that don’t completely annoy me are text ads. I block every other type of ad, and if the site places text ads in the middle of an article I block them too. Any form of advertising that is not simple basic text is simply in the way, ugly, and annoying.
January 27th, 2006 at 5:19 pm
I call BS where are your sources?
January 27th, 2006 at 6:51 pm
It’d be interesting to know how much more money Google’s gonna make with this deal. So much for Google being ‘clean’. It’s like an innocent girlfriend who wants to dump you to become a adult film star.
January 27th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
Google adsense to stop making sense!
Google is beta testing new “features” to its adsense offering. Interstitials, expanding ads and floaters. Floaters?!?! What has gotten into…
January 27th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
Google getting evil?
January 27th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
That’s the Google way. Please people first to get the critical mass, then piss some (or many) off.
January 27th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
OMG. Google is turning evil. Damn you google.
January 28th, 2006 at 1:48 am
If Google does this I will be dropping AdSense. I will not do that to my readers.
January 28th, 2006 at 8:19 am
Google n
January 28th, 2006 at 9:19 am
Why I Love Interstitials
Interstitials are a rich-media form of advertisement, that, in my opinion, is as close to TV commercials as web advertising has gotten.
Interstitials are not banners, they are not popups, they are full page ads that load between page views on your si…
January 28th, 2006 at 9:22 am
Why I Love Interstitials
Interstitials are a rich-media form of advertisement, that, in my opinion, is as close to TV commercials as web advertising has gotten.
Interstitials are not banners, they are not popups, they are full page ads that load between page views on your si…
January 30th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
I wish we could return to the days when it was a pleasure to see AdSense blocks, and although I run them on my site, I know only a small segment of viewers find it usefull. Until donations can support the bandwidth, I must run them. I’m glad sites like flickr allow painless hosting of my photos for when I can not host them all.
January 30th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
And…so the Google profit story continues. “Sell adwords, then instead of monetizing organic…sell adsense. Cool…that works, now lets sell all advertising on the adsense players.” Great..what’s next? TV, Newpaper, VideoBlogs, Podcasts, WiMax hotspots. I am still waiting to see Google ads to watch while using the urinal. (Do Ya Hear That Google!…that’s an idea, lets test that too! Make money while pissing aka CPP)
January 30th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
Hi Jen,
I think it is the natural next step to evolve and I bet the ads won’t be as revolting if they are contexual. A couple of years from now things will be very different and internet would’ve emerged to become more interactive than ever - who knows what all technologies will evolve. I think it’s a smart move that Google is getting ready for it.
Sid
January 30th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
HOW?
How does Google’s adsense rich media effort compete with Pointroll(a company that creates the ads - artwork, story boards, animation, etc…)?
Google would not be creating the ads. They would not be an ad agency. They would merely give you the vehicle to deploy and manage your rich media campaign. Therefore it is not a rich media competitor. It is actually a new avenue of reach for all rich media agencies(pointroll being one of them).
Please explain to me what you are saying because to me it makes no sense.
You are comparing a Rich media agency to a Rich media ad management deployment system. Which is like comparing apples and oranges.
Now if you said doubleclick - I would have nothing to say.
I look forward to hearing you explain more or retract that statement.
Thanks,
Michael
PS> What is with all the read more… links pointing to other sites that have all the sponsored listings on them. Is it helping you with your organic search placement. I am curious?
I would not mind them as much if they actually had more to read. They don’t. Are people actually clicking on the ads? I find it amazing if they are. Now how long with that last? How long will it take before all internet users perceive that as annoying?
January 31st, 2006 at 5:46 am
AdSense Going to Add Expanding and Floating Ads?
I hope not! Those annoying ads you get when you mouse over them or that float on the page with you on your scroll. JenSense has the scoop describing what these ads are; Floating ads are ads that either stay…
January 31st, 2006 at 12:29 pm
The Ultramercial Day/Site Pass model gives viewers the choice: watch an ad that “earns” them their program - OR - pay-per-view. The viewer chooses to pay with their time - OR - pay with their money.
The advertiser becomes the good guy, granting access to content you normally have to pay for. This patents-pending business model has been in place for years with partners Salon, The Economist, ABC and now Time. It is an ideal fit for the VOD industry. It would rejuvenate Google Video without cluttering their site or annoying viewers since ads only display when requested.
http://www.ultramercial.com/demo/vod_ultramercial
February 1st, 2006 at 8:01 am
googled
There’s been a lot of talk lately about Google’s privacy policy and the possibility for misuse of personal information. Google, like all search companies, has archived a monumentous amount of data from the Internet. A lot of this data is pe…
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:45 pm
Goobuntu, Adsense s’essaie au rich media, et eBay attaqu? par Tiffany
Le programme Google Adsense semble s’interesser au Rich Media…
February 15th, 2006 at 10:47 am
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March 3rd, 2006 at 4:57 am
Adsense Referral Program Changes
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April 10th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
Oh horrible, horrible, most horrible…
Google watcher, Jensense is reporting that Google Adwords (those little box ads you often see on the side of people’s blogs, google mail, etc.) is beta testing “rich media” ads. What’s rich media you ask? Rich media refers to …