Bye Bye Luminate: Five Display Advertising Alternatives

This week, Yahoo purchased the interactive image advertising company, Luminate to try to boost their ailing media presence. Yahoo has bought over 40 companies in the past two years, in an attempt to recover from a 7% drop in display advertising services last year. CEO Marissa Mayer is at the helm of these buyouts, and there are certainly more to come if Yahoo can’t turn their numbers around.

It is now clear that Yahoo will not keep Luminate running. As of Wednesday, September 3rd, all of the company’s services were shut down, and Luminate has stated that their JavaScript will no longer work on host websites. In addition, sites that have earned over ten dollars will receive their final payout by September 30th, 2014, and advertisers will be refunded the remainder of their balances by the same day.

Luminate allowed its clients to overlay targeted advertisements onto images. For instance, if a user is reading an article about the latest car models, Luminate would display a car company banner ad that would display along the bottom of the page. Luminate’s buyout by Yahoo has left over 10,000 of Luminate’s former publishers without an in-image ad service. Fortunately, there are many other companies that offer similar advertising services that can allow you to host ads on your website.

1. Google Adsense

Most people are already familiar with this service, and it is pretty simple to get started. Google pays website owners to publish advertisements on their site. This is probably the most commonly used online advertising service, and Google made $3.4 billion with the service in just the first quarter of this year.

The process is easy and free for publishers. Webmasters simply sign up for AdSense using their website, and Google provides the HTML code for them to paste into the site. The publisher is then paid on either a per-click or per-impression (per-view) basis. Google displays advertisements based on certain keywords on the web page, which assures that the ads are relevant to the viewer. This also means that the ads will fit in with the content of the website and not seem odd or out of place.

Recently many publishers have tried creating spam pages that only contain ads or copy/pasted content and using Google AdSense to monetize. As such, Google has become very strict with regards to which websites they admit into their network. The best use of AdSense is to monetize a site that already has an existing user base, instead of building a site around the ads as you are more likely to pass their fairly rigorous filtration system.

2. imonomy

Since I was introduced to imonomy a few months ago and was immediately blown away. It offers is exactly what former Luminate publishers want, yet it is so easy to use and offers a variety of in-image ad options to choose from. They also offer in-image advertisements that appear over photos as users browse the web.

We all know that banner blindness is a growing problem for advertisers: Advertisements that appear in the sidebar or as a banner above a website are completely ignored by users. imonomy is different in that they overlay advertisements onto images on websites, which increases the probability of the ad actually being clicked on and the publisher getting paid. Their advertisements are compatible across web browsers on desktop, tablet, and mobile.

imonomy carefully tailors their in-image solution by pairing relevant ads to the content in order to achieve the maximum click through rate, which is good for both the advertiser and the publisher. Each advertisement is well produced, assuring that it will improve the look of your page. imonomy ads are much more subtle and will integrate seamlessly with the style and subject of the host website without becoming obtrusive to the viewer.

Publishers will also receive personalized customer service with imonomy. Unlike Google, each imonomy publisher is assigned a personal account manager, who will help guide them on the path to generating the maximum amount of revenue.

3. Chitika

Founded in 2003, Chitika is a straightforward alternative to Google’s AdSense. An account is free for publishers, and best of all, the minimum monthly payout is only $10 and can be transferred to you through PayPal or by check.

Chitika ads are very similar to Google AdSense. They generally provide banners and sidebar advertisements in lieu of video or link ads.

What sets the company apart is that Chitika uses a Real Time Bidding strategy to sell ad space. This means that advertisers will bid on your site’s ad space based on the statistics of individual users. Advertisers bid based on demographics, history, and the content of the page. With this feature, you will be sure to get the best price for your ad slot.

4. LiveRail

If you’re looking for something a little different than image advertisements, look no further than LiveRail. LiveRail is one of the web’s top video advertising platforms. YouTube is only one video site that features video advertisements, but there are many more sites that host videos and are looking for new advertising opportunities.

Publishers have greater control over their ads with LiveRail. They can block inappropriate content such as alcohol and tobacco ads from their audiences. Their interface makes it easy to manage content and campaigns to suite your site’s needs. Like Chitika, they also use a Real Time Bidding (RTB) strategy to sell ad space, so you can be sure that your ad slots will go to the highest bidder.

5. InfoLinks

InfoLinks is an online advertising platform that specializes in showing In-Text ads and it is more relevant to blogs but can be very useful for informational websites as well. You can generate revenue without giving up valuable real-estate on your webpages. It is based on the certain keywords of your blog post or website page. The In-Text ads appear only when the user mouse overs the highlighted text.

So long, Luminate.                                                                                                                           

If you were a Luminate publisher the JavaScript on your site has already been deactivated. Now is a great time to sign up for another online advertising platform and maintain the advertising revenue your site generates. Choose wisely and select the medium that meets your needs.