Thanks for the A2A:A 1099-MISC is generally for reporting services that you paid for.  Paying somebody for participation in a program is definitely a gray area.  The person hasn't really performed a service for you.  It sounds like they're just putting your ads on their website.  This situation is not specifically addressed in the instructions for the form (although participating in a medical study is addressed).In order to ensure compliance, I would go ahead and collect the W-9 from these individuals and send them a 1099-MISC, but I would report the amount paid in Box 3 (Other Income) rather than Box 7 (Non Employee Compensation).  Box 7 will trigger the IRS to look for self employment tax on the recipients return.  Since the ad revenue may be more of a passive nature, Box 3 will trigger a reporting requirement, but allow the recipient to report the income as Other Income rather than Self Employment Income, which seems to more match the nature of the payments.