Online Search Ads Faring Better Than Expensive Displays

In the past few years, Web publishers have made a big bet on booming online advertising revenues. But the economic slowdown may be throwing a wrench into those plans. While search advertising remains strong, there are signs that the growth in online advertising -- particularly in more elaborate display ads -- is slowing down. In the past few weeks, major online-advertising players, like Yahoo and Time Warner, have posted mixed results. And online publishers may be getting less money for the ad space they do sell. The prices paid for online ads bought through ad networks dropped 23 percent from March to April, according to PubMatic, an advertising-technology company in Palo Alto, Calif., that runs an online-pricing index. Large Web publishers fared the worst in PubMatic’s study, with the prices they received through networks dropping 52 percent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/technology/19online.html?ref=todayspaper
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* Guessing the Online Customer’s Next Want
Among online retailers, pushing customers toward other products they might want is a common practice. Both Amazon and Netflix, two of the best-known practitioners of targeted upselling, have long recommended products or movie titles to their clientele. They do so using a technique called collaborative filtering, basing suggestions on customers’ previous purchases and on how they rate products compared to other consumers. Figuring that out is not so easy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/technology/19recommend.html?ref=todayspaper