A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

CPC  advertising  on‑site  ( pay‑  per‑  click  text  ads). 

CPC

  stands  for  ‘ cost‑  per‑  click’. 

Advertisers are charged not simply for the number of times their ads are displayed, but 

according to the number of times they are clicked upon. These are typically text ads served 

by a search engine such as Google (

www.google.com

) on what is known as its content 

network. Google has its Adsense (

http://adsense.google.com

) programme for publishers 

which enables them to offer  text‑   or  image‑  based ads typically on a CPC basis, but option‑

ally on a CPM basis. Typical costs per click can be surprisingly high, i.e. they are in the 

range £0.10 to £4, but sometimes up to £20 for some categories such as ‘life insurance’. 

The revenue for search engines and publishers from these sources can also be significant: 

Google’s annual reports (

http://investor.google.com

) show that this is between a quarter 

and a third of Google’s revenue.

3 

Sponsorship of site sections or content types (typically fixed fee for a period). A 

company can pay to advertise a site channel or section. For example, the bank HSBC 

sponsors the Money section on the Orange broadband provider portal (

www.orange.

co.uk

). This type of deal is often struck for a fixed amount per year. It may also be 

part of a reciprocal arrangement, sometimes known as a ‘ contra‑  deal’ where neither 

party pays.