November 7, 2006

Ex Alta-Vista founder and CEO Jim Barnett wishes to compete against Google in the online advertising field with a system that puts links and banner ads on thousands of different websites.

Despite Google's amazing success with its AdSense program, Barnett believes the system has many flaws, and he's betting his new venture, Turn, will be able to take advantage of those holes.

"It's mind-boggling," Barnett said of the upcoming fight against Google. "They're extremely good competition."

In recent months, San Mateo, CA.-based Turn has attracted $18 million in venture backing from Norwest Venture Partners, Trident Capital and Shasta Ventures.

Turn has about a thousand advertisers in its system, which displays ads on approximately thirty sites.

Unlike Google, which charges advertisers on a per-click basis, Turn relies on a cost-per-action method. It charges advertisers only if users take specific desired actions, such as filling out a registration form or closing on sales.

For example, a marketer such as Starwood could bid $20 for each hotel night booked, $3 for every e-mail sign-up and 75 cents for each site visit.

Turn hopes to appeal to advertisers unhappy with poor conversion rates from their contextual campaigns and irritated by the complexity of compiling keyword lists.

Turn has another key point of differentiation: It analyzes sixty factors to decide which ads to show users, weighing variables such as past behavior, publisher demographics, copy contents and brand quality.

Turn's system shows either text listings or display ads, choosing the option likely to yield the most revenue, Barnett said.

Source: Red Orbit