Publishers Won't Be Paid More, They'll Just Be Paid

The idea, said Chief Marketing Officer Troy Young, is if one site has an interaction or engagement rate of 0.2% and another has a rate of 2%, the publisher delivering the higher rate should get rewarded for that by having the advertiser pay more for the ad.

He said the medium will move toward that kind of accountability system not only because it can be measured (as opposed to more-traditional media, where interaction isn't as hard to measure) but also because there's a ton of inventory. "Advertisers will ... push risk back onto publishers," he said. "There will be a measurable component."

I'd hate to have Troy Young negotiating my media buy! The fact is, if publishers aren't doing well, they'll be kicked off the buy in the first place. And for those doing well, just because they're doing VERY well for one client doesn't mean their inventory is worth more in the market. Until inventory is sold out on a site, it's all worth the same regardless of the advertiser. For now, this will mean that sites that perform will simply earn the privilege of staying on the buy.