But enough about me. What you're hot for is the exclusive first look at the size of the banner exchange space, relatively speaking. Flavorite' BX of the Month 5. Our Next Shindig 7. That's the conclusion of our first run at the numbers.
Comparisons are useful in that they clarify what's different.
Affiliate and associate programs have become the leading edge in web marketing, yet to our knowledge their total membership numbers pale in comparison to banner exchanges. The Chamber of Commerce's 3 million members world wide would jump for joy if their membership included free web marketing services. And while it's understandable that high-traffic sites such as AltaVista would turn to ad networks instead of banner exchanges, the end result is that ad networks limit their membership and have less contact with web site owners and publishers. Home page communities have the most impressive membership numbers and serve more ads than banner exchanges, but the quality of the member sites is limited by the tools provided by the home page community itself. Yeah none of them lines up exactly, which is perhaps why all of these web wonders continue to thrive.