Posted by mikezillion at February 27th, 2008

A marked decline in the popularity of search-based advertising has Wall Street in a panic. Advertisers have been quickly adapting from the old-media model to click-based online advertising. But the news from comScore shows that browsers are becoming less and less likely to click on search-based advertisements from Google and others. As a matter of fact, in the past two months Google’s market value has dropped by almost a third.

Interruption marketing used to be based on broad nets, thrown to capture the common denominator of viewers or readers. Search-based advertising takes advantage of the content being viewed to present targeted ads to likely potential customers. However, sophisticated web users have begun to challenge the increasingly deceptive advertising practices of companies looking to generate as much attention as possible with less relevant ads.

And where is porn in all of this? Porn continues to advertise like hookers in the streets of Paris: put a pretty shill out on the sidewalk to lure in the customers, and then charge them for someone less appealing in the dark hallways of the brothel while the shill returns to the street.

Yes, you wanted sexy pictures and you got sexy pictures. But what you really wanted was the model in the ad. What you got might have been comparable, but it wasn’t what you were expecting. If it was free, and it did the trick, you’re not likely to complain.

Remember that the porn consumer is just your average consumer, who happens to be shopping for porn. The failure of contextual search-based advertising to sustain the growth patterns of the past few years is just an indicator of what lies in store.

Publishers need to think carefully about how they market their goods as potential customers become more familiar with misleading marketing techniques online.