Edited by Joshua Smith - 20th January, 2002

ZEDO, Inc., a leading third-generation ad serving company, announced earlier this week that they would deliver 'unsold' ads for their publishers at no charge. This includes the complimentary delivery of unproductive remnant inventory, unsold house and default ads run by the publisher. The move comes just weeks after major tech players DoubleClick and 24/7 Real Media announced that they would follow L90's lead and charge publishers a nominal fee for the delivery of their default inventory.

At the same time, the company additionally trumpeted the signing of major new contracts with StreamCast Networks - creators of Morpheus, Boston Media and Shoxygen.com, Silicon India, Nutrio, and others. The deals in question promise to boost Zedo's delivery volume to an impressive 6 billion ads a month. Other major customers are expected to be announced in the next few weeks - perhaps indicative of the lure posed by Zedo's inexpensive service in a market increasingly dominated by the big three, whose premiums have only grown throughout the industry's initial consolidation.

Reiterating the service's key value proposition, Zedo CEO Roy de Souza said, "The efficiency of Zedo's architecture allows [the company] to provide the pricing and pricing structure that customers want...Publishers only pay Zedo for ad serving when they are making money from the ads served - this is what our customers need to succeed in today's market."

"ZEDO gives us the functionality to better service our advertisers with the ability to target, traffic and report vital information allowing StreamCast Networks to optimize campaigns and reach desired audiences," said Trey Bowles, Director of Sales and Marketing StreamCast Networks (https://www.musiccity.com). "ZEDO provides substantial cost savings to StreamCast because we do not pay for unsold ads."

Although accurate data concerning the proportion of inventory that goes unsold is hard to come by, thhe sentiment expressed on ad-centric bulletin boards, ezines and trade publications would seem to put this figure at between 40-60% of an indie publisher's available inventory, suggesting that even a small charge placed on the delivery on unsold ads has the potential to significantly deplete a small publisher's revenue.

In addition to low prices and free serving of unsold ads, Zedo's ad serving platform is reported to provide the delivery of media at rates far above those reached by centrally-managed systems. Zedo's unique architecture (styled after the efficient peer-to-peer data exchanges) allows for customer-specific features and immense flexibility including the reporting of how long ads are visible on a page; off-line ad serving; easy to use pop under serving with accurate frequency caps; and more.