Comments on: MSNBC.com creates online ad network

By: Rick Ellis

Rick Ellis — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:32:35 +0000

It’s an interesting idea, and I’ll probably play around with at least The Today Show part of the concept to see if it matches well with our TV-focused site.

I don’t have a problem using these types of video-oriented widgets, but I’ve found in the past that they tend to be much too kitchen-sink in their approach to video (i.e., news, sports, weather and entertainment all mixed together). Or they aren’t updated frequently enough to stay relevant.

For instance, while it’s not widget-based, I love the Voxant video service from TheNewsroom.com. But in the TV video channel, it often isn’t updated frequently enough or has deep enough content for our use.

By: thedetroitchannel

thedetroitchannel — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:29:49 +0000

hey, i thought i read that nbbc was shut down.

By: Mark Josephson

Mark Josephson — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:10:18 +0000

Guys, thanks for the feedback here. We are very excited about the PVNs we’re rolling out with MSNBC..and more to follow.

The thought here is that while this phase bundles the ad inventory with the content syndication, in the (near) future as we see the network grow we can and will be separating the content from the ads.

Also, the bundled ads here are MSNBCs ad tags, so they have the visibility into each discrete member and can forecast, track and sell as discretely as they do with their owned inventory on the core domain…just like a network.

Big publishers need to build networks to stay competitive and this is an exciting first step.

By: Rafat

Rafat — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 05:38:53 +0000

Cory
I wouldn’t call this an ad network..MSNBC is merely syndicating its widgets, like everyone else, embedding ads in it and sharing ad revs…interesting for sure, but not an ad network. If MSNBC was selling ad inventory on the publishers’ sites, then that would be an ad network. And it is not truly viral..they want you to apply and they will qualify you.