I read a very interesting post from Jason Calacanis (CEO of Mahalo) titled, “Are ad networks for loser/weak publishers?” Go ahead and read the full post, it is well worth the time. Here it is in a nutshell:

Giving away your inventory gives it the appearance of being cheap thus becoming less desirable to marketers.

Ad Networks take too much money.

You CAN sell your own inventory.

Calacanis goes on to use ESPN’s decision to discontinue its ad network as evidence. Well his whole post got me thinking about vertical ad networks, specifically those that target urban or Black publishers. While Calacanis’ statements were on the whole ad network industry in general I think that they also apply to niche and vertical ad networks as well. There are a host of Urban and Black ad networks that have launched within the last year, networks like this should be more in tune with your content right? Wrong. Who’s to say you won’t get a display ad for BlackSingles.com on your site just because that is what XYZ Ad Network sales team closed a sale on. The bottom line is the publisher can only control which ads are displayed by a) Selling ads yourself; b) hiring someone to sell ads for your site privately. Of course there is a monetary value to selling your own ads, you can keep more of the money for your site. What outweighs money and what is far more important is the brand integrity a publisher retains by being able to thoroughly screen advertisers and advertisements. So if ad networks don’t work what does? An ad sales team in the truest sense, a few people intimate with your content who sell to specific advertisers that align with your brand – not in bulk. Overall ad networks are like lawyers when you are their client they SHOULD work FOR you not AGAINST you.