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February 14, 2008 6:10 PM PST

Openads becomes OpenX--what's in a name?

by Matt Asay

Openads just changed its name to OpenX. OpenadsX is one of my top open-source software picks, given its potential to roil the ad server business. With its competitors (like DoubleClick/Google) taking 40 percent to 50 percent of a Web site's advertising revenue, the company's model of charging peanuts to advertisers to source publishers is a big boon to content publishers, 30,000 of which have signed up to use OpenX.

But after talking with publishers, Openads decided that it could provide more value than advertising revenue:

In the past few months we have spent lots of time with folk in our publisher community to understand better what you want from us. Simply, you want us to make it easier for you to make money online....[W]e plan to move with our publishers beyond our core open source ad serving software. That will always be our heart and soul. But as we start to roll out our hosted service and look towards the future, we thought the time was right to evolve our name to reflect the suite of services we hope one day to offer our publisher community.

What will that value be? I have no idea, but if it sees the same sort of traction that Openads did with Web publishers, it should be big. I'm hoping to catch up soon with OpenX's founder, Scott Switzer, to see what he and the team have in mind.

By the way, take a stroll over to OpenX's Web site. It's one of the freshest designs I've seen in a long, long time.

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
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by dascha1 February 15, 2008 5:51 AM PST
The "We Don't Know" business is growing... Here's a Big Guy example-

Fox News Interview - Feb. 5, 2008 (Thurs) on the future of Internet revenue pie

CAVUTO: ..
One of the things they [writers] talk about, Mr. Murdoch ? and you and I have
chatted about this before ? is, they want a slice of that Internet promise or pie, if
you will. You have mentioned and Michael Eisner, the former head of Disney, had
mentioned to me in separate interviews there is nothing there to that pie. They say
otherwise.
But are they, in the end, likely to settle on the notion of getting some of that pie?
MURDOCH: No, we are not doing anything there. As far as we are concerned, there
is nothing there at the moment. We don?t know ? there may be. Well, that will be
for the next time we negotiate, in three years.
Reply to this comment
by tristanbob February 15, 2008 9:15 AM PST
Call me slow, but I don't understand exactly how businesses use OpenAds.

Here is how GoogleAds works:

1. If you want to advertise your products, you pay Google to display your ads on websites.

2. If you want to make money from your website, you partner with Google to display ads and receive a piece of the income.

How does that model compare to OpenAds? Can you explain it for me?

Thanks,

Tristan Rhodes
Reply to this comment
by olivergeorge February 19, 2008 12:54 AM PST
Hi Tristan

Having an ad server, like OpenX, becomes important when you realise that you want to run many different sources of advertising. A typical example might be:

1. Show a mobile phone ad campaign to people in London
2. Schedule another direct ad deal to run through April
3. Show a technology affiliate network in one section of your site
4. Try three different ad networks (including Google Adsense) to find one which performs best for you.

We've just launched a new section on our website called 'Online Advertising Explained' which aims to introduce these ideas and help web publishers become more sophisticated in how they advertise so they can make more money. I'd love some feedback if you have time.

http://www.openx.org/online-advertising-explained

cheers,
Oliver George
OpenX Ltd
Reply to this comment
by openadsmods February 29, 2008 1:47 AM PST
Openadsmods provides good modules for openads (openx). we have many experience in openads. Also we are giving training how to use openads, you can get custom modules by sending mail us info@openads.com.Also visit our site
www.openadsmods.com
Reply to this comment
by rohit_rst15 March 5, 2008 10:50 PM PST
Openadsmods provides good modules for openads (openx). we have many experience in openads. Also we are giving training how to use openads, you can get custom modules by sending mail us info@openads.com.Also visit our site
www.openadsmods.com
by rohit_rst15 March 5, 2008 10:56 PM PST
Openadsmods provides good modules for openads (openx). we have many experience in openads. Also we are giving training how to use openads, you can get custom modules by sending mail us info@openadsmods.com.Also visit our site
www.openadsmods.com
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About The Open Road

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to the Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is general manager of the Americas division and vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

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