Expanding its toolkit for publishers, Contextweb announced today that it will make available in-text ads for publishers on the Adsdaq exchange beginning March 31. Leveraging its contextual technology, Contextweb will enter the same space which Vibrant Media and Kontera have dominated in the recent past in a battle-contextual-royale.
Contextweb’s Jay Sears explains how in-text ads will work on their company blog:
“ContextWeb publishers participating in the In-text program will see specific keywords double underlined within their content. Upon mouse-over of the keyword, the end-user will have the option to see and click on ads. The ads are specifically relevant to the keyword that has been double underlined, which enables advertisers to be precise in their targeting. As a publisher, you will be able to name a CPC AskPrice for all the in-text ads served to your account. No additional tagging or integration is required.”
Sample from Contextweb
The key differentiator appears to be that publishers will be able to set the CPC price they receive for all in-text ads. (It would be interesting to see a contextual provider allow publishers to set CPCs according to content category, or even keyword, someday.)
Given Contextweb’s Adsdaq at least 50% better reach than Vibrant or Kontera according to recent Comscore numbers, the in-text ads could have significant impact depending on how they roll it out with publishers (large and self-serve pubs) and advertisers.
Sears notes publishers can opt-out of the ads if they wish.
