New Semantic Ad Network Takes on Google AdSense

Peer39, an ad network that processes the meaning of text on web pages and delivers related ads, will help make advertising more relevant to viewers, CEO Amiad Solomon says.

Basing ads around keywords on a page, as Google AdSense does, can yield tangential results. A page about a trip to Hawaii that mentions taking photos might display camera ads rather than travel ads, according to Solomon. Peer 39's semantic advertising (advertising based around the meaning of text) will instead consider the full context of a page. 

Peer39 has insider knowledge about AdSense's flaws. The people behind Peer39 invented AdSense, sold it to Google early on, and are working to develop the next generation of that technology, Solomon says.

The July/August issue of MIT's Technology Review named Peer39 one of the Ten Web Start-ups to Watch in 2008.

--Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer