More Ads on the Books

Amazon has started to beta test a new pay-per-click advertising network that will use A9 Search to auction off ads that complement featured products. The new Clickriver Ads program will not replace or preempt existing third-party ad placements, although competing retailers may be blocked from placing ads.

I find this interesting, especially in light of some recent scaling back of A9's services. I don't go to Amazon to do things offline, necessarily, much less do anything beyond purchase books or specific products. So I'm feeling a little bit of cognitive dissonance thinking about browsing finance books and seeing ads for banks and other service providers. We'll see!