(ALL COMMENTS WELCOME)
This article explores the different revenue models that TinyUrl, Adjix and Linkbee. All 3 of them have ad sharing revenue models, but the key question is whether to pop-up ads or not.
TinyURL creator Kevin Gilbertson is on the record stating that he could make a million dollars a month, “if he chose to attach a pop-up advertisement on each URL,” according to his hometown paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “But he won’t, on principle,”
For me, principle is overstated. The reality of the situation is when an organisation takes the ‘moral high ground’ and doesn’t use pop up ads and loses potentially millions in revenues because of this - The organisation has lost. The only question as to whether to take this move or not should be are the barriers to entry high enough in this market to prevent users shifting source quickly. If there is a threat of reduced users as a result of this move, then a simple ROI analysis should show whether to take this decision or not. When Gilbertson says he won’t do this on ‘principle’, I think he probably means he won’t do it, ‘because of the risk of losing customers’.
Source: Abdelaziz (Aziz) Musa