I was just joking last night how a startup or business "launching it's own ad network" has become the new "launching, becoming or integrating a social network."
Not sure what happens if a social network launches its own ad network. Apocalypse? Dead pool?
Search advertising works. It brings in more then is needed to fund great search long term with plenty of R&D, innovation, free services & free food.
But advertising online is far from solved. It's still not clear what sort of sites/apps can be funded by advertising & what types can't. Experimentation here is vital. We need advertising models that fund the rest of the web. Or at least the part that is ultimately going to be funded that way.
Search ads do a good job of matching ads to what you are doing (Looking for stuff about X, here's an ad for X). Maybe something can be built on matching ads to who you are.
There's an opportunity here for someone to create a system that dynamically optimizes ad revenue for content providers by weighing potential revenue from various ad networks based on content, context, and user profiles.
TV networks like ABC don't accept ads from just one agency media buyer. Why should web sites commit to a single Internet ad network?
If you're a founder occupying the retail insurance space and you're getting ads served about retail insurance opportunities then it's obviously no good.
If you're a founder occupying the retail insurance space and you're getting ads served about support for retail insurers then it's a hell of a lot better than the crap you get on google.
Not sure what happens if a social network launches its own ad network. Apocalypse? Dead pool?