A long tail advertising network appears

We've seen Web 2.0 with new live applications like Google Maps and News 2.0 with sites like Newsvine.com (invitation required). I'd argue that Advertising 2.0 is Google Adsense and its derivatives, because it sets a new standard for measurement and reach for advertisers, while providing new consumer markets -- namely blogs -- for advertising. So what's next?

I think I saw the future today at Daring Fireball, in its adoption of the new Deck ad network [note: the image shown here is a condensation of the actual images on the site to make it fit a blog entry]. Author and site-owner John Gruber describes why this is so startling:

Starting yesterday, Daring Fireball joined A List Apart, Coudal Partners, and Signal vs. Noise as a member of The Deck, a boutique ad network geared specifically toward web and design professionals.

The Deck’s advertising philosophy is almost perfectly aligned with that of the homegrown sponsorship system I previously ran here on Daring Fireball, with the only significant difference being that my own sponsorship ads were text-only, and Deck ads include 120 × 90 pixel graphics. Otherwise, the policies are the same:

• One ad per page.


• Advertisers are limited to products and services we (the member sites of The Deck) have paid for or use.


• Spots are limited (six, currently), and each ad in the rotation gets an equal slice of the total page views of the sites in the network.


• Animation is verboten.

So think about it. This is an ad network designed for a specific niche community. It offers products and presentation forms targeted specifically for that community. Ads compete with nothing, since they are only one per page. Readers love them because they aren't distracting. Advertisers love them because they are hugely efficient. Everyone wins.

It's possible that Google Adsense can achieve something similar as it continues its drive to mass-customize advertising for its huge ad network. But this ad network differentiates itself from Google ads by marketing to a specific target market not being served by Google, yet being more efficient at reaching that audience. It's long-tail advertising to a niche; maybe this is the start of Advertising 3.0.

Technorati Tags: Adsense, Advertising, Long tail, Marketing, Opinion, Web 2.0, Web advertising