The fatal flaws of ad networks

Jason Calacanis just posted a very interesting writeup on the fatal flaws of working with many ad networks. Basically they’re often dishonest, and they take too much money and give publishers crappy ads that downgrade the look of their sites. For small publishers (<250k/year) he recommends Google Ads, and for all other publishers he recommends building a sales force and going to advertisers directly. The alternative is the devaluation of your publisher brand. Isn't it interesting that your site's reputation directly influences its ad rates?

It’s so obvious to any with premium content that giving it away is a huge mistake in the long term. HUGE. It is a zero sum game: you have a limited amount of inventory. Give it away and folks get trained to think your inventory is cheap. Do it for too long and marketers don’t want your audience.