turn There’s been a rush of new ad networks recently but I find this one very interesting. Turn sounds like it will attempt to merge the best of all online ad mediums. For publishers it will be as easy as placing Adsense code and it’s contextual, yet it’s CPA. So the plus is affiliates or publishers won’t have to pick merchants, find the right ad, figure out the best ad placement and do all the separate tracking for each program. For advertisers there is no concern about click fraud or all the work that goes into keyword research and targeting because the ads are cost per action and placement is contextual.

What scares me a little is that this seems like the perfect model for Google to use in their new CPA ad network. I predict Google will do something very similar to this or possibly even buy Turn after they work out the beta bugs and prove the model is sound. If this type of advertising network takes hold it could totally revolutionize the current affiliate marketing model.

Turn is also interesting due to the management team. At the helm as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer is Jim Barnett previously the President of Overture Search and before that President and CEO of Altavista. The Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Product and Technology is John Ellis who was a Senior VP at Overture and Altavista. The rest of the management team includes players from companies like DoubleClick and oh-oh Claria.

Here is a summary of the ad network benefits from a recent Press Release

* Simplifies online advertising: Unlike traditional ad networks where advertisers need teams of employees to manage manual targeting including selecting sites or selecting and optimizing hundreds of thousands of keywords, the Turn network automatically analyzes and targets ads. Turn’s technology dynamically selects and blends over 60 variables such as advertiser and publisher sites, past performance, brand strength, user profiles, action type and site categories to determine the best targets for each ad, thus eliminating guesswork, time and complexity.

* Increases relevance: The Turn network is based on patent-pending technology that intelligently targets both text and graphical ads. By dynamically and automatically selecting and blending targeting variables, Turn can determine the best ad or group of ads for any situation.

* Eliminates risk: Turn offers true pay-for-performance with its unique bidded CPA model. Because advertisers pay for actions that they define, Turn eliminates the risk of worthless or fraudulent clicks. Whether an advertiser is paying for product purchases, site visits, leads, or email signups, the advertiser is in control of what they pay for and when they pay for it.

* Improves profitability: The Turn network maximizes advertiser ROI by charging only for actions and eliminating much of the work required by traditional manual networks.