I've noted before that the real excitement in online advertising is about platforms (reminder: the GOOG is an advertising platform). 

Back in 2008 (yeah, I was there before they were cool, etc.) I noted that contextual display wonks Dapper were on to a thing and would be acquired soon. Well it only took two years. Yahoo has picked them up. 

Eran Sher, who founded Dapper with the mission statement "to put the right content, at the right time, in front of the right user", has a great blog post outlining the thinking behind Dapper and the acquisition. Dapper video below summarises.

An ingenious approach to online advertising over at Solve Media. Instead of having to type out those Captchas, you reproduce a strapline from an ad instead. Ad copywriters rejoice! Ye shall be read, and recalled. Obligatory illustration-based video follows.

Online advertising really is a platform game. By that I mean, the people owning the platforms, like the Solve Media guys, are the ones holding the real value.

The above might prove to be a gimmick. But right now this is looking a lot better than an interruption-model leaderboard ad splattered across article template pages. Oh, and there's the 40% recall rate for people who typed in the ad phrase.

Found via the WSJ.