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Kali Yuga · 08-25-2010, 08:38 AM

Yep, this topic was thoroughly explored a year or so ago. Apparently Amazon or someone else filed a patent that made a bunch of pundits proclaim that "ads in ebooks" were imminent, much hay was made, etc etc

I still seriously doubt we'll see ads in books, though it is possible. When you pull up a title in Google Books, there are a couple of unobtrusive ads on the left side -- small enough that you can easily miss it.

That said, there is almost no chance we'll see ad-supported or subsidized ebooks. For example, a typical cost per impression (i.e. one person looking at one web ad) is $0.004. If you have a 250 page book, and an ad on every page, that nets $1 per book. Even at $2 or $3 per book, that's a pretty disruptive experience that will put off a lot of readers. It's certainly not going to generate enough revenues to make an ebook free.

I concur though you might see a return of advertising for other books at the end of an ebook.

08-25-2010, 08:38 AM	#14
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	Yep, this topic was thoroughly explored a year or so ago. Apparently Amazon or someone else filed a patent that made a bunch of pundits proclaim that "ads in ebooks" were imminent, much hay was made, etc etc I still seriously doubt we'll see ads in books, though it is possible. When you pull up a title in Google Books, there are a couple of unobtrusive ads on the left side -- small enough that you can easily miss it. That said, there is almost no chance we'll see ad-supported or subsidized ebooks. For example, a typical cost per impression (i.e. one person looking at one web ad) is $0.004. If you have a 250 page book, and an ad on every page, that nets $1 per book. Even at $2 or $3 per book, that's a pretty disruptive experience that will put off a lot of readers. It's certainly not going to generate enough revenues to make an ebook free. I concur though you might see a return of advertising for other books at the end of an ebook.