Two new contextual ad networks are available for online publishers and advertisers. First up, Microsoft has removed the “beta” label from its Content Ads network. Participating online publishers include WSJ.com, FOX Sports, and RunnersWorld.com.
Meanwhile, semantic search engine hakia has also launched their contextual ad network, dubbed CONTEXA. ReadWriteWeb.com is their first publishing partner.
“We are excited to keep the wheels of innovation turning at hakia as our industry has plenty room for improvement. Today, Web users are overwhelmed with the quantity and suffer from the quality of display ads and quickly learn to ignore a good portion of the Web pages they visit,” wrote hakia Chief Architect Kartal Guner. “In the long run, the industry’s focus will have shift to increasing ad quality and limiting the supply to increase value. The path to this promise goes through enhancements to both contextual and behavioral ad targeting technologies.”