This page archives the final reviews associated with major affiliate programs and ad networks that have been claimed by the sector's vicious shake-out. While in some cases the casualties were well-deserved, failing due to swiss-cheese business plans and poor management, others were claimed prematurely as a result of the prolonged market downturn. In any case, here lie the missing links in the Darwinian evolution of online advertising. RIP to the following affiliate programs and ad networks.

ABOVEtheFOLD.NET is a Canadian ad rep whose specialties lie in the sale of sports, youth, gaming and adult-related inventory. If you feel that you have something to offer in one of these categories, email the company's co-CEO Donny Brooks on [redacted] with your site's details and a request to be considered for membership.
UPDATE (15th June, 2003): AbovetheFold's domain no longer resolves. The service seems to have slipped away in silence.

AdFlight has matured greatly as an ad network during the past year. They no longer base their payment structure upon guaranteed flat CPM rates, but offer publishers a 45-50% commission on the various CPC and CPM ads that they serve. In addition to the standard 468x60 above-the-fold banners, AdFlight supports three button sizes (120x60, 120x90, 88x31) to present their publishers with additional revenue streams. They now only accept publishers who are based in the USA, and require that sites deliver at least 300,000 pageviews in order to be eligible for participation.
UPDATE (9th April, 2001): AdFlight's banner ad network has been grounded for good. Word is that publishers will all be paid for campaigns served prior to this date, and the company will restructure to better serve its other businesses, whatever they may be.

ADictive brings together UK-based web publishers with both regional and international advertisers looking to target various industries within this national demographic. The offer advertisers the opportunity to plan exactly which categories and/or individual sites will carry their campaign, while providing publishers with an additional revenue stream. ADictive keeps a 30% commission from the publisher's earnings, pays monthly after £50 has been generated, and does not require exclusivity.
UPDATE 15th August, 2002: This media marketplace service seems to have died and allowed its domain name to expire without notice.

AdSearches is a program established by Advertising.com that pays you a rate of between 2 and 12 cents (on a 1st-click basis) for each search performed from your website. The actual rate is determined according to both the value of the terms for which your users surf (prefills are allowed), and their responsiveness to the links presented. A variety of box designs are provided, and a small selection of tect links are supported under the same payment scheme. Minimum payout made after $25 has ammassed, with checks cut within 30 days after the conclusion of the month in which your earnings were made. Recommended.
UPDATE 9th July, 2001: AdSearches announced this week that it would be making substantial revisions to its program, the central change of which will see it shifting to a 2nd-click, revenue-splitting system, rather than a standard 1st-click search program. Publishers will receive a 75% split of the revenues generated through their links, and will additionally be awarded 50% of the banner revenues from ads appearing on the results pages. For more on the changes, go here [link removed]. Verdict: The court is out, but the changes look promising at this stage.
UPDATE 27th November, 2001: An email was sent to all AdSearches affiliates today noting that while Advertising.com remains strong as a company, it will be discontinuing AdSearches as of the end of this month. All revenues will be paid to affiliates according to the normal schedule.

Adtegrity.com offers representation to sites that deliver in excess of 500,000 pageviews/month. Their focus used to be on humor and entertainment related sites, and these still make up the bulk of their inventory. Adtegrity is, though, expanding into other regions, and is looking for sites that fit into the following categories: Women-centric, Computers & IT, and Business & Finance. Adtegrity delivers ads using AdJuggler, which provides support for a variety of rich-media options and banner sizes. Scott Brew from Adtegrity has always been very up front about the rates that participating sites can expect, though some publishers have expressed their disdain at the lower rates that they've experienced of late. Overall, this is a good network, but one that seems to be struggling more than most during the market downturn. Payment terms now NET90. Worth exploring.

Affiliate Fuel is a cutting-edge affiliate network founded by several former iBoosters, including the creator of Sponsorships.net, Paul Grossman. Not only does the company offer a combination of CPC and CPA offers - with creatives including text links, email spots and banners - but they bring a superb track record of publisher-centric service and support to the equation. In order to be eligible, sites must attract in excess of 500 visitors/day, must be well presented, and must be viewed by mainly US and Canadian-based users. Payments are made NET60 after $50 has ammassed.

AltaVista recently lowered the payments offered through its searchbox program to a low 1 cent/click (1st-click) through a branded box. Given the low rate and the lack of customization options, this program is not recommended.

bCentral Revenue Avenue (formerly ClickTrade) was established by the folks from Submit It! before being acquired by Microsoft. The system supports both pay-per-lead and pay-per-sale activity. Before hosting an ad, you are required to submit an application to each individual advertiser. Despite this, the earnings from each program are pooled into a single account from which affiliates may make one withdrawal request per month. Their depth-tracking system enables advertisers to scrutinize their link partners' traffic, by accurately monitoring the behaviour of the referred visitors. This should provide quality sites with greater probability of being accepted into each individual program. Offers real-time reporting. Supports banner, button and text links.

BigStar is an online video retailer offering 8% (or more, though there are no details present on the site to suggest the magnitude of such bonuses) commission on the sale of videos made through a referrer's link. Affiliates are paid quarterly on account balances exceeding $90.
UPDATE (4th July, 2001): This popular affiliate program was terminated via email on this day, with no advance notice given.

BlueFishNetwork has caused ripples through the indie web publishing community this year out of the anticipation that this upstart may be best equipped to fill the void left by the departure of Flycast (now Engage Media, AdFlight and ClearBlueMedia. As yet, the only part of their suite of services to have gone live is their popunder program, which pays approximately $1.50-$2 Net CPM on quality single-frame windows that popunder once/unique/day. Recommended.
UPDATE (4th October, 2002): Just over a year since its promising launch, BlueFish has called it a day, failing to carve out a profitable niche for itself within an increasingly contracted online ad brokering marketplace.

Burst! Media has long been a leader in the CPM market for small-medium sites. Their strength is due as much to the level of respect and support that they show their publishers, as it is to the rates that they return. In fact, Burst! has been plagued by the same challenges that have hit all CPM brokers this year. This has driven their CPM rates down, resulting in publishers having to serve high levels of default (unpaid) ad views. The effect of these can be minimized, though, by selecting Burst!'s optional CPC (cost-per-click) campaigns, by sending your default impressions to another ad agency, or by promoting your Burst! demographic survey (which additionally increases your chances of landing a targeted campaign). Rates seem to range from $0.25-$3CPM, and 10-30 cents/click (gross rates), depending on the creative and the level of targeting provided. Burst! supports both above-the-fold and below-the-fold banners, as well as buttons, cubes and optional popup and popunder campaigns. Requires a minimum of 5000 impressions/month. Stats are updated daily, and the user interface provides publishers with the ability to select exactly which campaigns they are willing to run. Payments terms are NET60 for amounts exceeding $50, and said payments are dispatched like clockwork NET60. Recommended.
UPDATE 11th January, 2002: As of January 31st, Burst will be phasing its 120x60 space out, and substituting it with support for the popular 120x600 skyscraper space. In fact, the skyscraper space will technically be a 160x600 window, able to support both skyscraper sizes, as well as the 120x240 vertical banner format. The skyscraper option also gives Burst! members the ability to deliver rich-media content within the space as a default, whereas Burst's banner default campaigns support only simple-media.
UPDATE 20th April, 2003: Burst co-founder and CEO Jarvis Coffin has performed an interview as part of Deloitte & Touche's Fast500 CEO Profile series. His insight into Burst's history and plans for the immediate future are transcribed here.
UPDATE 15th November, 2003: Recent developments at BurstMedia include the introduction of a new dynamic code format, and added support for 728x90 leaderboard creative sizes.

Casale Media represents web publishers in the sale of popunder inventory. They offer some of the best rates in the industry, due in part to their presentation of 70% of gross campaign revenues to publishers. Online, real-time statistical reporting is available, and the optional entry of default campaign settings is supported. Payment is made on a NET30 basis, for amounts exceeding $25. Recommended.
UPDATE (Jan 19th, 2005): Casale Media now supports 300x250 rectangle creatives, with most campaigns CPM-based.

CD Now is offering referring sites a 7% commission on the sale of CDs, videos and merchandise from their site. The commission, can either be redeemed in cash (once over $100 has ammassed), or used in the form of 'Cosmic Credit', which may be redeemed for goods at CDNow.
UPDATE (27th Nov, 2002): CDNow has ended its affiliate program and suggested that its previous affiliates instead join the Amazon.com associate program. Amazon will also be managing the tech components of the CDNow website on behalf of BMG Music.

CDWorld offers an impressive 10%-20% commission range on the sale of music, movies, software, comics and related products. Their commission scale is based on the number of sales your site generates.
UPDATE (9th March, 2001): This promising e-commerce pioneer announced today that they, and their affiliate program, are going the way of the dodo. For more information, read this [link removed].

ClickHereForCellPhones represents Standard Internet Corp's first foray into the CPS scene. Through this affiliate program, webmasters are presented with the opportunity to give away free cell phones (and attract users to resold cell phone contracts through major carriers as a result). Each successful cell phone application from one of your users will net you a tasty $37 bounty. Recommended.
Defunct as of 28 April 2004.

Clear Blue Media (formerly Image Networks) showed promise during the first few months of operation, but were ravaged by the ad market downfall of January 2001. At the end of January, they ejected 100s of members, with 12 hours notice, to cut down their inventory. They now represent only a few select sites with CPM/CPC hybrid banners, while providing CPM-based "gobehind" popunder ads to others.
UPDATE (5th May, 2001): It seems that ClearBlueMedia has experienced a rebirth. Having dramatically reduced their inventory, the company now represents only a few 100 branded properties. These days, your site must manage and report ads in-house, have audited figures available, support beyond-the-banner campaigns and deliver in excess of 10 million monthly impressions to be considered for representation.
UPDATE (24th May, 2001): Unfortunately, the 'rebirth' mentioned above seems to have been a desperate attempt made by CBM to snare brand-name partners with whom to align. The company's founder, Phil Pennington, confirmed today that Clear Blue Media will be serving its last banner this May 31st. For more information, please read this article.

Click2Net is an established banner agency whose payment rates vary according to advertiser demand. The network reportedly allows webmasters to place up to three Click2Net banners on one page, while also permitting other advertising on the same page. Banners are targeted to maximise your potential click-through ratio, and you are given the freedom to exclude unwanted ads from the rotation. Detailed real-time statistics are provided to all host sites, detailing how long it took each surfer to click on the banner, which interest areas produce the best click-through ratios etc - all designed to help you make the most of your unsold advertising inventory. Payments for balances above $30 go out 10 days following the month in which they were earned.
UPDATE (Jan 30th): This network used to pay 6-8 cents/click. On the 30th January, 2001, though, a representative from Click2Net informed me that "The Click2Net Network pays member websites between $0.10 and $0.20 per click depending on content, visual appeal and traffic as well as other demographic data." The company also appears to be making the transition towards a more flexible model, that also supports CPM and sponsorship deals. Recommended.
UPDATE (June 22nd, 2001): Click2Net suddenly, and surprisingly, announced its closure today.

ClickThruTraffic is an innovative 2nd-click program managed by Standard Internet. The program pays between 6-20 cents/click made on select search results. Publishers are able to link to these search pages through a variety of methods, ranging from descriptive text links to alternative-shaped banners and drop-down menus. The payment rate varies according to subject, so that "Free Stuff" links, for example, are worth 6 cents, "Computer" links 10 cents and "Casino" 20 cents. In short, they offer a very flexible program that may be seamlessly adapted to suit any site's needs. Recommended.

7AdPower is a relatively new entrant to the popunder broking market. They offer publishers 1.50 euro (about $1.40CPM) for every 1000 popunders that are delivered and remain open for at least 20 seconds. Stats are available online, and updated in real-time. Payments are issued once 50 euro has been ammassed, and are delivered on a NET30 basis.

AdPowerZone are exclusively a popunder broker. Publishers are offered a comfortable $2CPM, with the opportunity to see higher rates when channel-targeted campaigns are sold. In order to be considered valid, the popunder window must remain open for at least 20 seconds. The downside of this validation method is that uninterested visitors are presented with a relatively long period in which to close the window. The upside is that publishers have no conversion ratios to maintain in order to be paid for the exposure. The popunders are frequency capped so as to appear only once/hour. Online, real-time stats are provided to assist in tracking your earnings. Payments are issued NET30 after the minimum payment threshold of $50 has been crossed.
UPDATE (July 5th, 2001): It seems that AdPowerZone have raised their average rate of pay to an impressive $4CPM. Given the promise shown by this firm, such a competitive rate hike gives this program a Recommended rating.
UPDATE (July 14th, 2002): Whoops! During the past year, the crew over at AdPowerZone seem to have dropped the ball to some degree. The company's pop code now launches several windows, and has been known to also spawn download-request prompts for firms such as theftware player Gator. No longer recommended.

AdScholar has built its entire network around CPM-based popup ads. Where these ads differ from those offered by many exit-traffic agencies, or from programs such as PopupTraffic, is in the application of its technology. Instead of popping the ad up in front of the visitor, and breaking their flow of concentration, AdScholar ads pop behind the active browser window, and are minimised to the user's taskbar. Your visitors will only see the ad once it has fully loaded. This technology thus provides both a better user experience and a potentially higher ROI for the advertiser. Ads are shown only once/unique visitor/day. Publishers are offered an impressive fixed rate of $4CPM, and are paid within two months following the conclusion of the period in which their balance exceeds $25. Real-time stats available. Despite running into a few problems lately associated with an upgrade made to their tracking technology, AdScholar remain promising.
UPDATE (May 7th, 2001): While some rumors have cirulated of late suggesting that AdScholar has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11, Adscholar's Jamie Palmer informed me that only AdScholar Brokers (a sister company of AdScholar Publishers Inc) has been burned by bad debts. AdScholar Publishers still has sufficient cash on hand to continue operations. Read more here.
UPDATE (Dec 29th, 2001): Comments have started to emerge suggesting that this firm, which once held so much promise as to garner it a 'Recommended' rating here, has suffered dearly of late. The most common complaint regards non-payment to AdScholar's affiliated publishers, and I have additionally recently received a complaint from a former AdScholar advertiser regarding their poor (read: non-existent) targeting capabilities, and their determination to include an AdScholar banner on their popunder windows wthout notifying their advertisers about this. New rating: Not recommended.

BannerSpace still has an active website, but it looks the way it did in the early 2000s, so I'm not certain as to whether the company is still in operation. Following is my description of the network from 2003, which may or may not still be valid:
BannerSpace rotate ads automatically and promise that all ads delivered throughout the network are paid. They generally pay in the range of 3-16 cents per clickthrough to sites that generate less than 5000 impressions/day, and between 12 and 20 cents to sites that generate a greater level of traffic. A few CPM-based campaigns have also made their way into rotation lately, which increases the appeal of this network.
NOTE: Recently, publishers have been reporting the sudden cancellation of their long-standing accounts under the pretense that the proportion of their audience that is US-based has dropped below a particular level. These accounts were cancelled without payment - with reports suggesting that even those payments which were months overdue being unjustly withheld, and that evidence-based challenges made to BannerSpace's team are ignored. Given this, the firm's rating has been degraded to Be wary.

Bulletmedia launched as a non-exclusive source of banner advertising, but recently shifted their focus away from banners and towards rich-media interstitials, which they serve on a non-exclusive basis, splitting the campaign sale rate with publishers. Don't seem to have their act together. Be wary.

ValueClickMedia (formerly FastClick) is a quality ad network that offers both banner and popunder support for sites on a non-exclusive basis. Their popunder payments hover around the $2.50-$3.00 gross CPM. Popunders are shown once/unique visitor/72 hours, and do not spawn any additional popup windows. Payments are made monthly, within 25 days after the month in which revenue was earned. Recommended.

goClick.com is a reputable pay-for-placement search engine whose affiliate program pays $2.5CPM on PopUnders. Their system supports topical targeting capabilities, and offers publishers with the option of selecting how often the popunder will appear/unique viewer. They pay after $25 has ammassed and accept those international affiliates who are able to accept payments via PayPal. The only drawback with this program is associated with a Netscape bug that they are currently ironing out. Recommended.
UPDATE (August 26th, 2002): GoClick's program evolved into one of the strongest popunder affiliate programs on the net for several months, but has of late declined from that echelon. Chief amongst the concerns voiced by publishers is the tendency of GoClick to slice one's rates to fractions of the base rate (as low as $0.25CPM in some cases) without notification. The frequency with which these rate reductions occur suggests that the program is now worth exploring only as a 'filler' option for most.

DotClick (formerly Digital Music Network) pays music-related websites 70% of impression-based revenue generated on their pages. They represent sites such as CDUniverse and other 'big players' in the music industry. In order to participate, your site must be music-related and must receive at least 100,000 impressions per month. If you are lucky enough to have such a popular music site, this is a fantastic advertising broker that promises big revenues.
UPDATE (15th January, 2001): DMN, having failed to renew their domain name registration, seem to be toast.
UPDATE (5th August, 2001): Looks like we spoke too soon. The Digital Music Network has apparently been reincarnated as DotClick, offering a promotional (and possible revenue-sharing) partnership to leading music resources. As soon as I know more, I'll let you know...

HerAgency has been representing women-centric web properties to some success since 1996. They broker ads on a site-by-site basis for properties that attract at least 200,000 monthly impressions, offering 100% sellout by filling unsold spots with RON and remnant inventory, and operate on a non-exclusive basis. Your commission on the takings will increase from 50% to 65% on a sliding scale as your traffic increases. Several years in the industry, and a commitment to maintain its focus on the female demographic make HerAgency an attractive choice for appropriate sites. Recommended.

HostingClicks.com is a specialist ad rep owned by the same company as the one that owns Net-Ads (thus, no rating will be presented). The service represents English-language web properties that fall into the broad 'technology' content category. This includes properties whose audiences are primarily web hosts, online publishers, net marketers or high-tech afficionados. Both CPM and CPC payment models are supported, with 50% of gross revenues awarded to the publisher. Ad management is handled through the AdJuggler system. Payments are delivered via PayPal on a NET30 basis once the $50 payment threshold has been surpassed.

Peel is an entertainment-oriented network that promises gaming/celeb/music publishers not only a share of the ad revenue generated through their banners and popups, but free hosting (up to 250MB), a free domain name (if needed), and free Peel Points, which may be redeemed for various products and services. While this sounds like a tasty deal, reports have emerged that the network is ineffective and selling its inventory, and has previously reduced its pay rates retroactively - a big no-no. Be wary.

Zonify, not to be confused with L90's now defunct Zonfire, is a value-oriented online ad rep founded by Aakshay Kripalani that offers most of its members reasonable CPM returns (generally between $0.20-$0.45 net). Publishers who produce particularly low click-through-ratios, though, will be offered payment based on a CPC basis. Members must deliver at least 100,000 impressions monthly in order to be eligible. Payments are issued NET35, via either PayPal or check.

PayPopup rewards publishers for the display of their popunders on a raw CPM basis. As such, should multiple popups be displayed to a single user during a single session, the publisher will be paid for both views. Rates vary between $0.35CPM and $1.40CPM, based on the visitor's geographic location. Payment is distributed on a NET-15 basis, bi-monthly, with a minimum payment threshold of $50. Payment may be requested in US or Canadian dollars, and PayPal support is provided. Not perfect, but definitely worth exploring.

Senac.com operates both a low-ball CPM banner program and a $3CPM interstitial program. Both have been criticised heavily, with complaints ranging from spamming on behalf of the network's founder to possible unapproved reselling of inventory from competing ad networks, through to non-responsiveness and non-payment. Not recommended.

TMP Express is a service of Flipside's TrafficMarketplace, which is itself a pioneer in the popunder marketing space. Publishers are offered a 65% revenue share, are afforded real-time tracking and reporting, and are paid on a NET45 basis once the account has ammassed more than $50 in net revenues. TrafficMarketplace has been operating under the TMP Express brand for just a few months, but the service itself is well established and reputable. Worth exploring.

ContentZone (formerly The Commonwealth Network) is 24/7 Media's network for unbranded small-medium sites. The program pays according to relatively low CPM guarantees that extend through the month. For example, the month of May saw member sites earn an average $0.15CPM, with Premium members (who deliver 250,000+ impressions/month) generating just $0.28CPM. Worth exploring.

Cyber Loft now pays 5 cents per click-thru made on their 120x60 pixel "hot buttons". Up to four of these buttons may be placed on each page of your site to supplement your existing banner sales. If your website receives between 1000 and 5000 visitors each day, email [email redacted] for more information.
UPDATE: Emails not returned, site unedited since 1999. Seems to be dead.

DimeClicks, as you can tell by their name, started out as a company paying a flat rate of 10 cents/click. In the years since, that rate has increased to 15 cents. During mid-February 2001, I received a complaint from a banner exchange operator who claimed that DimeClicks has spammed several banner exchange companies to request that they sign up. Then, after one such operator had run their banners for a few months, they were not paid. Upon querying this, the operator received no reply, but had his account cancelled days later, with payments retroactively cancelled.
UPDATE (April 13th, 2001): Several additional negative reports have surfaced regarding this firm's actions. Potential applicants should search for details on various webmaster forums (hey, a few minutes of research could be very valuable ;)). Not recommended.
UPDATE (April 15th, 2002): DimeClicks' index page has been removed from their server, suggesting that the company has finally called it quits.

Electronic Advertising (eAds) pays host a between 5 and 20 cents per click-thru, scaled according to traffic volume. Hosts are able to select which banners appear on their pages. In theory, this means that you can choose banners that are specifically targeted towards your audience's demographics, thus increasing the click-through ratio. Some reports that I have received from webmasters state that eAds fail to respond to email requests, and cancel sites accounts without due cause. Still, the company has been established for a number of years now and many webmasters are admittedly pleased with the service that they receive. Requires 100,000 minimum monthly impressions.
UPDATE: eAds was proclaimed dead late 2000.

Engage Media [ENGA] (formerly Flycast Communications) offers a great amount of freedom to both the buyers and sellers of Web-based advertising, offering a combination of CPM and CPC deals, as well as support for several IAB-standard banner sizes, and a new pop-up ad system dubbed 'Superstitials', which load while a visitor navigates a publisher's site. As with most online ad agencies, Engage has recently been troubled (cutting about half of their staff in an attempt to become profitable). As a result, their network-wide CPM rates have reportedly dropped from a high average of $4-6CPM a year ago, to about $0.50-$1CPM presently. Many publisher sites have also expressed their disdain by Engage's move to cut their commission rate from 60% to 40%, further strangling the publishers' key revenue source. If you're seeking representation for your site now, it is unlikely that you'll be picked up by Engage's CPM network, as they clearly have excess inventory under management. However, if you believe that you site's demographics have potential, it's worth applying - you may find yourself accepted into their CPC network, from which you can probably move once the ad industry has recovered.
UPDATE (9th July, 2001): Lately, several publishers have reported payment delays of several months above-and-beyond the NET60 payment period to which Engage claims to abide. This is a phenomenon that started within the company's regional divisions, but which seems to have leaked into the US division also. The network remains worth exploring, but is quickly losing the appeal that the former Flycast left in its wake.

ExitFuel , an InternetFuel program, is a well-established exit console program that offers its affiliates $5CPM. The program's main detractor is the fact that its exit console is difficult to close, and spawns multiple popups. When available, the limited-membership AllClicks Exit program is a better option, but ExitFuel remains strong, credible, has a positive track record of issuing payments on time and is thus worth considering.
UPDATE (Feb 2nd, 2002): ExitFuel reps have long hinted at the suggestion that their product range would some day be expanded to include the support of a less-aggressive exit pop alternative, and an official announcement issued by the firm today served as confirmation that such an option is just around the corner. Specifically, while the $5CPM multi-pop program will be continued, a $3CPM alterative that launches but a single popup window upon exit will be made available to those publishers who are increasingly dependent on return visitors. Revised verdict: Recommended.
UPDATE (August 22nd, 2002): Although ExitFuel recently dropped the payout on its single-pop program down to a less-impressive $1.50CPM, a spokesperson for the company has suggested that a return to $3.00CPM is imminent.
UPDATE (Sept 5th, 2002): ExitFuel has lived up to its promised and bumped the payout on its single-pop program back up to $3.00CPM as of today. Still recommended.

Fine Clicks recently expanded upon its range of affiliate offerings with the release of CPM-based popunder support. The network has a range of popunder campaigns on offer, which may be individually selected, and which display pops on a 'raw' basis at varying rates. Recommended.
UPDATE (November 12th, 2002): FineClicks now only accepts affiliate applications from those located within the United States.
UPDATE (December 22nd, 2002): FineClicks no longer accepts incentive-based properties.

HostIndex pays between 15 and 25 cents per clickthrough generated to their web hosting database through one of their buttons or banners. In order to participate in their program, your site must be webmaster-related and must attract in excess of 300 visitors per day. Program managed through Commission Junction.
UPDATE: This program, which started as an in-house offering, before moving to CJ, will be discontinued as CJ drops its support for CPC affiliate programs.

IgniteSearch (Advance disclosure: IgniteSearch is operated by the same company that owns Net-Ads. For this reason, its listing here will not include an opinion rating.)
IgniteSearch was a late bloomer in the pay-for-performance search market, launching only this January. During its short lifespan, however, it has grown at a rate far outpacing many of its smaller rivals as a result of its many affiliate-level promotions, and presently processes more than 400,000 searches/month. A variety of bid-management and monitoring tools are available within the advertiser interface, assisting in the efficient control of one's listings, and all listings are manually screened by the service's relevancy team prior to activation in order to maintain validity of the results. Accounts may be established with a minimum opening deposit of $10 (paid via credit card or PayPal), and bids start at just $0.01/click

Internet Banner Network claims to offer sites that receive more than 4,000 impressions per month $2.50 CPM for delivering ads. Sites must place at least 5 IBN banners on their site, including a banner on their home page. When paid ads are not available, sites can earn credits towards a banner exchange program. Of all of the sites profiled here, IBN has produced the greatest number of complaints, with publishers claiming to have received no payment, or having their account (and outstanding balances) cancelled for mysterious reasons. Not recommended.

LeadCrunch only launched in August 2001, but is already home to several high-quality lead-based programs. LeadCrunch offers its affiliates a wealth of handy features, such as dynamically-generated Javascript ad spots, a banner rotator that allows you to select exactly which campaigns will appear on your site, and a wide variety of creatives associated with most offers. The network will also support CPC programs as demand dictates. Impression and click stats are updated in real-time, with lead stats updated daily. One account may be used to support multiple domains. Payments are issued NET60, once a minimum of $25 has ammassed. Since this program is a fresh entrant into the affiliate marketing scene, it has yet to develop a defining track record, but the company's CEO, Brian Welch, is highly respected within the industry, which suggests not only that LeadCrunch can be trusted, but that it will consistently remain on the forefront of affiliate marketing. Recommended!
UPDATE (31st July, 2005): LeadCrunch isn't defunct as such, but the network was on this date acquired by MaxBounty. Existing offers and affiliates will be transferred to the MaxBounty system, while the LeadCrunch brand will be disolved.

LottoTour recently made the decision to complement their CPA program with a CPM-based popunder option that pays at a rate of $1/1000 pops. Payment is made monthly once more than $10 has been generated. Residents of most nations accepted.

Luna Network launched with much promise a few years back as an extension of the About.com niche-content network. At the time, a contract with the Luna Network was similar in function to becoming an About.com guide, in that members were offered not only revenue, but traffic drawn from similar guidesites. In exchange for this, member sites are required to heavily brand themselves as About.com properties by inserting headers, banners, skyscrapers and Sprinks links. Unfortunately, the program's attractiveness has declined rapidly this year, with a large proportion of their inventory going unsold, and little to no traffic filtering down to member sites from About.com's other properties. Participating sites must serve at least 150,000 monthly impressions, be strongly focused upon a particular niche interest, and must maintain high editorial integrity.

Mach 1 has developed a sponsorship model that traverses the distinction between click-thru and affiliate programs. They offer sites a scaled click-thru rate that varies between 2.5 cents and 15 cents per visitor, depending on the ratio of sales (of aviation, military and motivational photos and products) generated through the link. In essence, this is an affiliate program of sorts, though you receive some compensation for each visitor refered, even if an individual visitor doesn't make a purchase.
UPDATE: Vanished off the face of the earth, without notice, somewhere between March and June of 2001.

MEDIAhits accepts professional, business and finance-related sites of all sizes, pays a flat rate of 5 cents per click-thru, and rotates its ads automatically. The also allow webmasters the choice between 3 different banner sizes (468x60 - the standard size, 426x76, and the obscure 300x54). The payment is the same for each, so your choice will depend purely on what fits your page layout the best. Banners can be situated anywhere on your pages, but you may only place one banner on each page. Appears to be dead.
UPDATE (April 21st, 2002): Domain name no longer resolves. Service dead.

Music Boulevard offers some of the highest commission rates of any store in its class. Paying between 7% and 15% commissions on the sale of CDs and books, based on a slidescale payment system (ie, the more you sell, the higher your commission rate). Their program has been around for a while and seems reputable by all accounts. Reports are sent via email each month, and payment can be used as store credit or, once it has exceeded $100, can be claimed in cash.
UPDATE: It appears that Music Boulevard has been acquired by CDNow, since their domain now resolves to this former-competitor's site. You are the weakest link...goodbye!

Narrowcast Media offers members a flat-rate payment of 8 cents per click-through on all banners. If Narrowcast find that the advertisements on your page are performing particularly well, they may invite you to join the purchase program, which is a more lucrative CPM (impression-based) agreement. Note that Narrowcast has changed its method of payment on many occassions, and is often slow to keep up with trends as they develop within the industry.
UPDATE: Domain no longer resolves. Nurse, call the time of death!

NetBanner Network, a Webclients company, has established a pay-per-click model similar to ValueClick's. It pays 15 cents and above per banner click-through, depending on the number of clicks generated each month.
UPDATE: While WebClients' Websponsors.com remains strong, the company has made the decision to shutter its CPC banner network.

NetEzines offers web publishers 20 cents for each confirmed subscriber they can send to a NetEzines newsletter. The subscibers can be gathered through multi-topic signup panels, popup windows, or through their new tell-a-friend service.
UPDATE 25th January, 2002: Pay rate reduced to 8 cents/confirmed lead. Program, if not in jeopardy, has largely lost its appeal.
UPDATE 17th September, 2002: Advertising.com's NetEzines program has been officially discontinued as of today.

OneMediaPlace (formerly AdAuction) is the most popular online media marketplace, and is subsequently very selective about the publisher accounts that it accepts. In order to offer your ad space for sale, you will need to serve several hundred thousand pageviews/month, with desirable demographics. Effectively, OneMediaPlace supplements your pre-sold inventory by offering you the chance to match your available impressions with advertisers looking to fill such space. They offer their own ad rotation software, while also allowing you the option of carrying sold ads through your existing ad-serving system. Due to the fact that OMP has established strong relationships with many traditional advertisers through their marketplace for offline media exchanges (such as TV, magazines and periodicals), they could potentially attract several large names to your site. Definitely worth exploring. UPDATE (7th March, 2001): Following its merger with Mediapassage, it seems that the newly formed company, which continues to operate under the Mediapassage name, no longer specializes in (or even offers?) a mediating marketplace for buyers and sellers of online ad inventory. While the company is continuing to use its website as a tool through which media buyers may make traditional media buys, the service is considered defunct as far as we are concerned.
FURTHER UPDATE (22nd Nov, 2001): Mediapassage failed to realize its vision before running out of funds. The full-form service has since been discontinuued, and the technology acquired by Valassis.

Phase2Media is an elite sales representation firm that works closely with a select group of high-traffic branded properties to facilitate the delivery of custom banner campaigns and sponsorships arrangements.
UPDATE (23rd July, 2001): Phase2Media this week filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 after CEO Richy Glassberg (also a Chair of the IAB) failed to attract a buyer to the firm.

PopUpSponsor presents web publishers with the ability to earn between $3-$5CPM on a range of popup/exit-console options. While the $5CPM choices spawn multiple windows, the $3CPM option launches only one. Payments are NET15 for amounts over $25. Great payment record. Reasonable conversion rates reported. Recommended.

PopupTraffic is a project run by Standard Internet that pays publishers a fixed CPM rate for spawning popup windows from their site. They currently offer $3CPM for standard popup windows, and $2CPM for pop-behind windows, which launch without obscuring your website's appearance. They pay after $25 has ammassed, and send checks within 10 business days after the end of each monthly period. The only drawback with PopupTraffic's system is that they only counts uniques on a 12-hour cycle, but pop up on every page view nevertheless. Some Javascript code is available to reduce this to one pop/day, which reduces multiple-pops. Now only accepts US-based publishers. Recommended.

PulseTV.com offers affiliate sites a whopping 20% commission on the gross shipped product price for any videos sold through a referrer's link. Perhaps the best aspect of this agreement is that affiliates are paid for all of that customer's future purchases also, so the revenue generated should, mathematically speaking, snowball exponentially, allowing you to reap the rewards long-term.
UPDATE: Program ended, without notice.

Quick Click Network, has initiated a program that offers a 100% sellout of your inventory, and a high 25 cents "guaranteed minimum" clickthru rate. Their terms allow their banner to accompany others on the same page. Payments are made reportedly monthly, within 14 days following the conclusion of the period in which revenues were generated. Unfortunately, this program does not accurately report clicks generated (while failing to report impressions at all), and has received a great deal of negative feedback regarding the performance and etiquette provided by this shady program. Not worth the trouble :(
UPDATE (April 20th, 2002): As with DimeClicks, this program seems to have finally gone out with a wimper by simply pulling their site offline - while failing to notify present or former publishers of their fate. :( See ya!

Real Media launched as an ad rep specializing in serving the online news and information communities, before growing following an alliance with Knight-Ridder Interactive. The success of their superb technology (RealMedia OAS), and their quality sales force has seen the company expand into the representation of sites within a variety of other content categories. Their Site Representation program accepts only those sites that can deliver in excess of 1,000,000 impressions/month for the firm, while some of their other advertising programs offer to support smaller properties.
UPDATE: Real Media recently announced that it is withdrawing from the ad representation business, and instead focusing on the development and maintenance of its OpenAdStream ad serving platform which, incidentally, has been an acquisition target of DoubleClick of late. More news will be noted here as it arises.
UPDATE 30th October, 2001: Real Media has merged with 24/7 Media to become 24/7 Real Media.

Reel.com will pay affiliate sites 5% commission on revenues (sales or rentals) generated through their links. Reel.com are one of the Web's biggest and most reputable video stores.
UPDATE (13th April): After failing as an e-commerce outlet, Reel.com's affiliate program made a transition to a CPC program managed through Be Free. Upon failing there (claiming that fraud decimated the viability of the program), Reel.com today announced the closure of their affiliate program.

Safe-Audit offers support for exchanges based on a per-impression, per-click, per-lead or per-sale basis. Safe-Audit were one of the first ad networks on the Web, and looked very promising early on. Lately, through, this company has been abandoned by sites, some of whom have reported to me that Safe cancelled some large CPM campaigns, without paying their publishers (including retroactive deletion of earnings, with no warning or notification given). Reversed leads are also common, with Safe determining (via undisclosed criteria) whether or not the traffic provided by a publisher site is considered valid. They accept sites of all sizes and dispatch checks once a user has generated at least $20 in revenues. Banners are served from your site, using your bandwidth. Still worth a look, but I wouldn't recommend that you use them exclusively.
UPDATE (April 21st, 2002): Though it would seem that Safe-Audit remain a company whose service should be approached with caution, the group has recently signed up Gambling.com into its advertising ranks, which provides publishers with the ability to once again derive CPC-based revenues from the group.
UPDATE (October 1st, 2002): Safe-Audit seems to have vanished without a trace, and without making an announcement to its members.

SearchFeed provides a particularly flexible range of linking options to publishers. Along with traditional searchboxes, SearchFeed's affiliate program offers its partners the ability to generate feed boxes (where search results are delivered live to the hosting website within a pre-defined, co-branded area), custom 404 pages and directory trees. Operators of meta-search services or pay-per-click search engines may additionally incorporate SearchFeed's results within their own via an XML feed option. Revenue is determined on a variable percentage split, real-time online reporting is provided and payments are dispatched on a NET10 basis for balances above $25. Recommended.

Sonar Network is DoubleClick's service for medium-sized sites. Ad serving is obviously managed through DoubleClick's Dart software, ensuring speed and reliability. In order to be eligible, your site must serve at least 100K monthly impressions, and must not be related to gaming, children, chat or illegal activities. I've heard mized reviews about Sonar, but the overall sense is that they are one of the best CPM networks for medium-sized sites, and may provide an avenue into DoubleClick for sites that perform well. Definitely worth exploring.
UPDATE (10th May, 2001): While not defunct as such, Sonar has been absorbed by its parent, with existing publishers becoming a part of the DoubleClick broad Audience Network. This move will, however, raise the barriers to entry for any other medium-sized sites who aim to join DoubleClick's posse.

Sponsorships.net, an iBoost company, supports several pay-per-lead and clickthrough-based programs. Your earnings from individual programs are accumulated in a single pool of funds, to be issued as a single check once/month. Detailed online stats are available, as are some interesting features that can't be found elsewhere (ie sponsorship panels that rotate text links automatically). Sponsorships.net's founder, Paul Grossman, recently announced his departure from the network (just as Chet Brzezinski left the iBoost-owned WebsiteSponsors), and the firm followed by changing its payment terms whereby they now don't issue payments until they've received the entire balance owed by their advertisers. This move, in conjunction with a sudden lack of support, has lead to the expression of several aggressive public outbursts from their members, whose payments are growing increasingly overdue. Be wary.
UPDATE (7th July, 2001): Finally, the ill-fated company has made the decision to throw in the towel and shut down operations. Hopefully, existing and past members will eventually receive their outstanding payments before iBoost's cash reserve dries up.

StickyCash , a service from the Safe-Audit team, offers relatively non-intrusive popunders that pay between $1-$5CPM, depending upon the responsiveness of your visitors. Presently, the average rate is said to be close to $1.8CPM. Payments are made monthly.
UPDATE 22nd May: StickyCash has shut down for an indefinite period of time. The message from their admin was as follows:

We regret that the operation of Sticky Cash has not proved cost-effective.
As a result we have decided to close that operation. Thank you for trying to work with us and we are truly sorry that it is not possible to continue.
We recommend you remove our code at your earliest convenience.
All sums owed that are in excess of the minimum payout have been paid.

TribalFusion is an online ad network that launched in January of 2001. Comprising more than 400 websites, including Motley Fool, ePregancy, uBid and your own NET-ADS, TribalFusion delivers some 500 million monthly impressions, reaching more than 30 million unique users per month. Tribal Fusion operates on a CPM model only. They do not broker any CPC or CPA campaigns. Originating as a self-serve media marketplace, the network evolved into a more traditional ad rep, striking up close relationships with the bigger media shops. Tribal presently offers sales support for a variety of creative sizes, including 468x60 banners, 728x90 banners, skyscrapers and popups. Returns from TF are generally higher than those netted from competing ad reps. Highly recommended.

WebsiteSponsors offers its publishing partners an impressive 12-25 cents/click. The company was founded by a veteran web developer, Chet Brzezinski, before being acquired by iBoost on October 9th, 2000. [Was] Recommended.
UPDATE (30th April, 2001): Well, it seems that big company syndrome drowned the indie ethos that once made WebsiteSponsors arguably the best CPC banner network available to small-medium sized publishers. The network shut down today. iBoost will turn their focus instead to Sponsorships.net, while Chet has moved on to bigger and better things as the founder of FineClicks. UPDATE (30th July, 2001): Three months after shutting down their banner ad network, iBoost has reportedly failed to deliver on its promises of issuing outstanding payments to its publishers.

TextLinks.com is another strong release from the Standard Internet crop. Those familiar with SearchTraffic will be comfortable with this system, while others may need a primer. In short, the program allows publishers to add a select range of text links to their site which, when clicked upon, direct surfers to a range of search results related to that term. A click made on one of the results appearing on this second page earns publishers a flat 6 cents. While this sounds complicated, it is well worth your time to investigate the TextLinks site in order to become acquainted with this promising performance-based system.

Zonfire Network is L90's solution for medium-trafficked sites and those larger properties who do not wish to be bound by L90's regular exclusivity agreement. Zonfire supports both CPC and CPM-based banners, buttons and 'Power Ad' popups. They do, however, charge their publishers substantial setup fees and ongoing ad-serving fees for the use of L90's proprietary AdMonitor software. I've heard several reports of publishers receiving negligible (or even negative!) effective CPM rates through this service, since even unpaid default banners are subject to the system's ad serving fees. Not recommended.

24/7 Real Media [TFSM] offers representation for premiere sites on either an exclusive or non-exclusive basis. Although it's not clear exactly what the agency's minimum traffic threshold is, they generally only support well-branded properties that deliver several million impressions/month. 24/7 also offers advertising support for ezines and online newsletters. Note that this firm has suffered dramatic cash losses of late, and is not entirely safe from a market downturn.
UPDATE October 30th, 2001: 24/7 Media today announced that it had acquired Real Media's coveted ad technology assets in a deal that ould make-or-break the company. The combined entity will operate under the name 24/7 Real Media, and will maintain both media representation and ad technology development. Rumors have it that 24/7 will opt to shelve its Connect ad serving platform and focus on licensing Real's superior OpenAdStream.

AdLINK.net , like ad pepper (see below), primarily services the European advertising community. To this end, AdLINK only represents branded properties whose audiences are comprised largely of European populations. The firm is well established, financially stable and serve their role as an outsourced sales team effectively. Recommended

ad pepper recently withdrew from the tumultuous US market citing market conditions. They continue to serve heavily trafficked websites throughout Europe, however, and offer flexible sponsorship schemes for branded properties on a site-by-site basis.

Avenue A [AVEA] are a full-service media planning, buying, management and tracking firm, the majority of whose business is distributed through the major networks. They do, however, deal directly with elite publishers, with rates and terms negotiated on a site-by-site basis.

BMC Media [BMC.AX] represents large online media properties throughout the Asia Pacific region. More specifically, they support sites from Australia, NZ, HK, China, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. Their Premium level of service offers exclusive representation to branded properties such as Telstra.com and Sina.com. Smaller sites, or properties looking for non-exclusive representation are supported by the company's VIP program.

Click~Thru, Inc appeared to be one of the stronger reps of online newspaper/periodical properties in its early days, but with their website having not received a single update since 1998, and most of their leading properties clearly running ads from competing firms, it seems that this company is flatlining. Not recommended.

CyberFirst claims to pay large sites an impressive $10-$35 CPM, depending largely on the level of targeting specified by individual advertisers. To be eligible for inclusion, your site must now generate in excess of 50,000,000 impressions monthly and target a specific demographic group and/or represent a recognized brand identity. Their ad-serving system is handled by DoubleClick DART, which is a very reliable service. Perhaps the one disadvantage involved with engaging in a relationship with CyberFirst is their contractual demand of exclusive representation, which prohibits your displaying advertising banners for other compaies except those represented by CyberFirst. Commissions paid to CyberFirst range from 30-40%, with the reduced rate coming into effect once more than 10,000,000 monthly banner impressions are being delivered to the service.

Cybereps were a pioneer in the online advertising space, and quickly established themselves as both one of its leading ad reps, and a prominent publisher. January 2001 saw the company merge with Interep Interactive, which has given likely improved the company's cash position, while broadening their product range with the addition of an experienced radio sales team. Cybereps represent only prominent online properties, and do so by brokering not only banner deals, but site sponsorships, streaming media sales and other beyond-the-banner alternatives.
UPDATE June 11th, 2001: Cybereps today announced that they will be acquiring competing ad rep Perfect Circle Media, which adds significantly to their client lineup. This transaction, in addition to the strength of parent company Interep, who also fund Burst!Media, suggests that Cyberep will be around for the long-haul. Definitely worth exploring.

DoubleClick [DCLK] has asserted its presence as a clear industry-leading provider of ad sales representation and technology. At present, they only accept sites that generate several million impressions per month, or which target a desirable demographic group and display solid growth potential. Payment is negotiated on a site-to-site basis.
UPDATE December 12th, 2001: A series of seeemingly related developments and cutbacks has constricted DoubleClick's lossy media division during the bulk of this year, and at its close, all indicators suggest that the company could completely depart the media representation business shortly. Nevertheless, the firm's solid reputation and comparitively effective sales unit makes DoubleClick's media service worthy of exploration as a short-term representation option.
Update: DoubleClick's technology has been purchased by Google. They no longer operate a stand-along network for publishers under the DoubleClick brand, but elements of the platform live on within Google's advertising suite.

Future Games Network is a division of the reputable Cybereps (see above), but seems to have floundered somewhat in its independent capacity as a representative of large-scale gaming properties. The service has allegedly long been dogged by pitiful CPM rates, uninspired leadership and an inability to fill inventory. Be wary.

Go4Media serves ads to several larger properties using Spinbox - an ad management system that is technically robust, though starved of significant reporting features, such as campaign breakdowns or summaries, and revenue reports. While they reportedly sold several lucative banner and popup-based CPM campaigns earlier this year, they have lately been serving little more than non-paying PSAs and broad cost-per-lead campaigns. They were also burnt when one of their biggest advertisers, CyberRebate, filed for bankruptcy protection early in May, 2001. Since Spinbox does not support the delivery of a default campaign, Go4Media is only worth exploring as the last link in your default chain.

Hi Media is presently the largest single ad network in France. The group's reach expands to more than 50% of the French online population each month, suggesting that an alliance with this firm could verey well boost the visibility of your French property.

L90 (Latitude 90) [LNTY] is one of the market leaders in online ad sales and representation. Their AdMonitor ad deliver and reporting software is reputed to be some of the best in the industry, though the network has come under fire for delivering low to negative effective CPM rates once their banner serving charges have been deducted. L90 also supports the delivery of high-quality popup ads, dubbed 'Power Ads'. The L90 network demands exclusivity, while its solution for medium sized sites, Zonfire, is not nearly as restrictive. Note that while reports suggest that L90's payouts are low at present, the company's strong links with traditional offline advertisers puts them in an ideal strategical position to drive growth into the market later this year.

Perfect Circle Media offers interactive advertising sales representation to heavily-trafficked web properties within the financial, business and high-technology content categories. Recently merged with Cyberep (see above). Sells ads on a site-by-site basis, while filling unsold spots with remnant and run-of-network or run-of-channel inventory.

Tempest Online Media presently offers ad representation services to highly popular and/or well-branded Australian online media properties.

UGO 's partner program has been providing financial support for webmasters of gaming and entertainment-related sites for several years. Recently, though, they've come under fire for "renegotiating" their contract with some publishers, while ejecting others en masse. They now only consider sites that are able to deliver in excess of 1,000,000 monthly impressions, and are reported to pay sites on a 50/50 revenue split. Participating sites must carry a non-paying UGO branding button on each page where a banner is displayed.
UPDATE (12th March, 2001): Following the contract negotiations, UGO has laid off several staff and has incorporated popup windows into their rotation. They've also been accused of withholding payment from all of their affiliates, which is clearly a sign of desperation if true.
ANOTHER UPDATE: UGO recently announced that their network would be merging with Bla-Bla's, and that the new company would maintain the UGO brand. FWIW, Bla-Bla's reputation was arguably worse than UGO's, which makes the justification of the merger a mystery.

Winstar Interactive [IREP] offers representation to a hand-picked selection of online brands. In order to be eligible for participation, your site should deliver at least 10 million pageviews/month, and should have a well-established brand. Winstar has claimed that their inventory is currently selling at approx $20CPM. If you do indeed represent a well-known online property, Winstar's services are highly recommended.
UPDATE (30th April, 2001): Winstar Interactive's parent company, Winstar, recently voluntarilydeclared Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Given this, Winstar Interactive is no longer a recommended ad rep.
UPDATE (15th May, 2001): The negotiations surrounding Winstar's Chapter 11 reorganization have resulted in the approval of a $300 million loan that stands a chance of bailing the firm out of its present financial woes. Stay tuned...
UPDATE (26th July, 2001): In what goes against the trend of late, this floundering online ad firm was rescued from the abyss by Interep Interactive - who already hold stakes in Perfect Circle Media, Cybereps and BurstMedia. Read more...
UPDATE (16th September, 2002): Interep Interactive's CEO Adam Guild today faced off with iMedia Connection in an interview that reveals a great deal about the company's direction and the rationale behind its recent string of acquisitions. Read the interview transcript here.
UPDATE: Winstar Interactive still operates in the digital marketing space, but no longer runs an advertising network that accepts third-party web publishers.