PureBlogging

Serving Pay-Per-Action (PPA) ads through Adsense is not exactly the same as being an Affiliate Network but is Google now a threat to the Affiliate Networks. According to Andy Beal:

“…after years of hinting, Google is finally ready to let us test their platform on a CPA (cost per action) model. (If this sounds familiar, reports surfaced back in June, that Google was offering a limited test of CPA) ”

“…this is a significant expansion of the CPC (cost per click) model, with advertisers being given the option of paying when a customer buys a product, signs up for a newsletter, or completes any other actionable task on the advertiser’s web site.”

“….it sounds like a clear threat to the likes of Commission Junction or LinkShare – or any other affiliate marketing network. Google, for all intents and purposes, has just entered the affiliate marketing arena, with the battle cry that they can do affiliate marketing better than the affiliate networks can. “

Basically, advertisers will only pay when someone buys something, fills out a form, or takes some other action and not for every click, as they do now. But don’t expect PPA ads to completely replace Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads.

This is just the next step in the evolution of online advertising.