MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. Internet giant Google's new Fast Flip search program could be the kiss of death for click-through advertising rates, a PC World reviewer said.
About three dozen publications -- The New York Times, the Atlantic, Newsweek and others -- have signed up for Fast Flip revenue-sharing agreements with Google. But, instead of leading viewers to those company Web sites, a user is directed to a Google page -- with Google ads -- that features the article the viewer was seeking, reviewer Jared Newman wrote.
Click-through rate is a system of measuring an online advertisement, coming up with a percentage of the number of clicks on an ad compared to the number of unique viewers.
On Fast Flip, "you see a significant chunk of the story -- five paragraphs or more, by my estimate -- on Google's Web site, with Google's ads. You'll even notice that the site's own display ads are missing," Newman wrote.
Bottom line: The publications that signed up "realized that you can't beat Google, so you might as well join Google," Newman wrote.
On the other hand, "I can't imagine too many publishers (are) looking forward," to sharing revenue with Google, he wrote.
