Browser Advertising

One of the sessions today at the SIIA Content Forum was entitled New Ad Models & Techniques for Web Content. The panel did a great job and they got me thinking about an advertising opportunity…

There’s no money to be made in the browser business these days. It seems kind of odd that the browser is the vehicle used to buy, sell, trade, etc., online, but it doesn’t generate revenue on its own. I think there’s a way for Internet Explorer, Firefox and the others to create their own income stream. Look at the screen below:

See the advertisement for WROX in the top right corner? I manually dropped that in, but it shows how any browser could offer this small bit of real estate for advertising space. I know…you’re already overwhelmed with online ads and you don’t need any more. Thanks to ad-skipping devices like DVR’s and the fact that people tend to spend more time in front of their computer than their TV these days I think we’re likely to see even more online advertising in the future though.

If you really don’t like the idea of giving up this part of your browser screen for ads, keep in mind that this could be an opt-in program. If you’re willing to earn a bit of money or “points” (more on this later), you could agree to give up this part of your screen for contextual ads. If you’re not interested, just say no and you’re out.

What are the benefits to the browser vendor? You can start with the obvious financial benefits of serving up ads on every screen displayed. This would be a service that’s always in use, not just when someone does a search. Let’s say you’re looking at satellite radios on Best Buy’s site. Maybe Circuit City bought some of the keywords on that screen (e.g., XM, Sirius, etc.) and their ad now appears at the top with an offer for some special discount. The cool part about this is that the ad will also show up when you’re searching Google – wouldn’t Microsoft just love to have their own ads appearing on the same screen as Google’s?! Another benefit is the database of customer information that gets built over time. (A note to all you privacy freaks: You’re going to opt out immediately, I know. I have a bunch of those frequent buyer cards for bookstores, grocery stores, drug stores, etc., so I’m obviously one of those people who doesn’t mind all the data collection going on behind the scenes. I’m not alone.)

What are the benefits to the user? This brings me back to the point about earning money/points through the program. What if Microsoft, for example, paid out a percentage of their incoming advertising revenue to all users of this feature? Maybe you’d get paid based on the number of ads you viewed each month/quarter. Yes, I realize these would be micro-payments, but they could add up over the course of a year. Another option is for Microsoft to work with a handful of retailers (e.g., Amazon) to earn points throughout the year (based on the number of ads you view). These points could then be applied against future purchases with those retailers. Would I opt into this program if it meant I’d earn an extra 5% or 10% off future purchases at Amazon? You bet.

I’m thinking the browser vendor could also charge a premium rate for these ads. Why? Two reasons: First, it’s a coveted location on the screen. Second, it doesn’t scroll off as the user pages down, thanks to the fact that it’s anchored on the menu/shortcuts bar at the top of the screen. If the area shown in my sample screen shot is too small, why not enable a rollover capability to blow it up larger and potentially add to the original message? I’m seeing a lot more of this sort of advertising on Yahoo lately, for example.

Microsoft is looking for ways to out-do Google. What I’m suggesting isn’t revolutionary, but it would be an interesting experiment for them. It’s a simple feature to add and could result in a good deal of advertising revenue. Maybe it’s a bit trickier for Firefox to add something like this, given that (unlike Microsoft) there’s nobody currently selling advertising for Firefox/Mozilla today. Then again, maybe the revenue potential would be large enough to warrant a small sales team…the income could always be funneled back into the developer community.

Comments

[Erik Dafforn]

You could be onto something. Acrobat and eFax already do it. And isn't it (or wasn't it) the "catch" behind low-cost ISPs like NetZero?

But none of this means anything until you get some treatment for your addiction to Firefox tabs. Or at least get the "Tab X" extension so you can kill tabs with a single click.

[Joe Wikert]

Yes, I'm guilty as charged when it comes to excessive use of Firefox tabs. I'll probably give IE 7 a look when it finally releases, but I've become very attached to Firefox over the past couple of years.