IDG Launches TechWords
Posted on March 22, 2006
IDG, a technology publisher, has embarked on a unique online ad strategy. They have set up their own contextual ad service called TechWords that will run on their technology websites. B2Day says that IDG runs over 400 websites including PCworld.com and ComputerWorld.com.
Taking a page from Google's playbook, tech publisher IDG is getting ready to launch TechWords, its own twist on contextual keyword advertising. IDG publishes ComputerWorld, GamePro, InfoWorld, PC World, CIO, and 300 other niche tech mags. It runs more than 400 associated Websites, and put on 175 evenst last year, including MacWorld and LinuxWorld. It also owns market research firm IDC. The private company brought in revenues last year of $2.7 billion.B2Day also says IDG network of websites gets over 10 million visitors a month so it sounds like a smart move for the publisher. It will be interesting to see if any other publishers follow suit.I spoke with CEO President Bob Carrigan today, and he told me that a big part of IDG's growth is, not surprisingly, Web advertising (the conference business is booming too, especially for niche events that go deep into tech topics like wireless or business intelligence). With TechWords, within a few weeks he's going to let advertisers place contextual text ads against any topic they want across his network of more than 400 sites. So if you want to buy the key word "grid computing" your ad will appear on any page that is about that topic, much like how Google's AdSense works.
Note: The TechWords website is no longer available.
