Technorati, which keeps a pulse on the state of the blogosphere, has joined the blog advertising market with Technorati Media. Frenzied activity in the blog ad space continues, because the blogosphere is still tremendous in size (with over 110 million blogs tracked) and it’s arguably ill-served by the current batch of blog ad networks.

But, as competition heats up, there are opportunities for bloggers to shop around for the best deal (or, better yet, combination).

Here’s a rundown on blog ad networks:

Google AdSense

Type: Contextual, CPC (beta-testing CPA), Text/Display/Video

AdSense is the largest and most well-developed contextual ad network. Popular on blogs for its ease of installation, contextual matching, and relatively high payout among its peers (largely due to the level of competition among advertisers), AdSense has access to a broad swathe of advertisers

Yahoo Publisher Network

Type: Contextual, CPC, Text

YPN is a challenger to AdSense, but doesn’t have its reach. You must apply to be in its beta program, and only U.S.-based applicants are currently accepted. Similar contextual matching and installation through javascript snippets. Under an upcoming agreement, YPN will also begin to serve Google ads as well.

Federated Media

Type: Topical (Automotive, Business & Marketing, Entertainment, Gadgets, Graphic Arts, Green, Lifestyle, Mobile, News, Parenting, Sports, Tech, Video gaming), Text/Banner; ~$10-30 CPM

FM serves ads for larger blogs and other online publishers, often assuming (sometimes partial) ownership of sites or guaranteeing revenue in order to land its larger “authors”. Interested bloggers can apply to be an FM author on a form that hints at the traffic levels and topic areas that would be a better fit.

Technorati Media

Type: Display, CPM

TM, unlike Federated Media and Glam, will accept all applicants, and based on its early advertisers, seems to be targeting technology, communications, entertainment, automotive and gadgets. Technorati Media will also negotiate the revenue split between the network and publisher, saying that it will pay better than its competitors.

Glam Media

Type: Topical (fashion, beauty, entertainment), Display, CPM

Glam Media is the advertising network arm of the Glam network of sites (both internally-owned and partner sites) geared towards women. Publishers must have a primarily female audience, more than 100,000 monthly pageviews, and be in existence for more than 3 months, among other qualification criteria.

Six Apart

Type: Display, CPM

The blog platform for TypePad, Movable Type and Vox has begun its own blog ad network from the ground up, and, like Technorati Media, it accepts all comers. It’s leveraging the breadth of its own network of blogs to develop relationships with advertisers.

Adify

Type: Display, CPM

Adify groups publishers in various vertical networks, such as Gamer’s Media and Sportsyndicator. You must apply to each network, and get accepted by each network’s administrators, in order to begin participation.

Blog Ads

Type: Display, CPM (guaranteed $2 CPM)

Blog Ads guarantees a minimum $2 CPM by using its network, but also claims its average user earns $50 per month using its service. They take a 30% cut of advertiser spend.

Links to the networks:

• AdSense
• Yahoo Publisher Network
• Federated Media
• Technorati Media
• Glam Media
• Six Apart
• Adify
• Blog Ads

This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 6:19 pm and is filed under Online Advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.