The other day, Naver announced AdCast, a new display banner ad system that allows viewers to exert control over the banner ads they see on Naver's front page.
User can stop/replay flash ads, find advertiser info, or navigate through multiple banner ads when more than one ads are rolling on the same ad spot. Further, user can also copy a banner ad (for whatever reasons, such as great background music, etc) onto one's blog. Says Naver: Good display ads can be deemed as good content - sometimes ads are so good that you'd probably want to keep them.
A natural question that follows is, why is Naver doing this? One possibility is Naver may be trying to bring up the display ads price. It didn't happen yet, but we know ads business (especially the banner/display ads) has been hit pretty hard by the economy meltdown, and Naver wouldn't be entirely immune to it. So it may be possible that Naver's plan is to make the display ads system slightly better and leverage that to increase the display ads fees.
Even if this is Naver's effort to squeeze out the last drop of their display ads revenue, I won't blame them - After all, a company should strive to maximize its profit. In fact, it could even be a good gesture if Naver wants to make its ads better before increasing the price (if it does so, anyway). But I am worried about the aftermath of Naver's ad fees increase, if such thing ever happens, as by now so many small medium companies and shop owners in Korea turn to Naver for advertising and the ad price increase will affect many of them, who are already struggling under the slow economy. These days, putting up an ad on Naver is a must, not an option, for many small medium companies and shop owners - such is the dominance of Naver in Korea.
TAG adcast, Naver
