I was doing my regular web surfing when I came across a strange ad on this page: http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/363313/introducing-the-chief-listening-officer.html (I'm on my laptop so I can't get a screen capture of the ad, sorry). The ad was for Google Checkout. I though it was odd looking because it didn't look like a standard AdSense referral ad. Sure enough when I moused over the ad, the url was: httX://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/8018-47605-18080-4 (link obscured as to not give them any link juice). Clicking on that ad takes you to the standard Google Checkout page: http://checkout.google.com/sell/?ut..._medium=oa-tx&hl=en_gb&promo=uk-oa-tx-AAABZKG Obviously this is not a standard Google Referral ad, so I'm not sure what is going on. Are they just ignoring Google's rules about standard ways to display ads? Are they a premium publisher that got permission to do this type of thing? Any thoughts?
OK. It's managed by Mediaplex, but why don't they have to play by the same rules as everyone else (only displaying Google approved formats). Is it because they are a premium publisher, or are they being rebels?