By Evan Hansen, 13 May 2004 09:05
NEWS Search engine giant Google plans for the first time to sell ads that include images - a surprise reversal for a company that has won regard for its pioneering use of text-only marketing pitches and for keeping its homepage religiously free of banner advertising.
A posting on the company's website describes the new program, which will allow customers to place image, or banner, ads on third-party websites that participate in its Adsense program. Adsense promises to place ads on web pages that are relevant to a marketer's message, based on an analysis of the page's content.
The posting noted that Google will not put image ads on its own site for now, but said it looks "forward to offering more image ad distribution options in the future".
The image ad program launched yesterday in a beta version, said Tim Armstrong, Google's vice president of advertising sales. He said the decision to wade into banners came after nine months of interviews with web surfers, publishers and advertisers, and was based on what he called Google's core mission.
Evan Hansen writes for News.com
Comments
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1. Robert Tunna
Google is going down a slippery slope with this and will find it hard to recover once it has implimented this ludicrous idea. The company is starting to go into a phase of greed by the sounds of it.
2. Robert Tunna
Google is goning down a slippery slope with this and will find it hard to recover once it has implimented this ludicrous idea. The company is starting to go into a phase of greed by the sounds of it.
3. Shauna Paukune
I have to agree with that comment. I never thought Google would do such a thing... I feel betrayed. Well, maybe I'll find a new search engine, because the day I see a banner on google, I'll be a sad, sad individual.