Marlborough, Mass.-based Chitika built flexibility and control into the VBUs, as advertisers can customize the look and feel of each widget, as well as target them by site, category and keyword. The unit also reports back detailed metrics including impressions, clicks, number of comments and votes.
"Web users are not satisfied simply to consume content by reading any more--they want to watch, listen, click, interact and play. The Viral Branding Unit is one of the best ad units that I've seen to meet Web users in this interactive space," said Darren Rowse of Problogger.net, who uses Chitika to help monetize his site.
--Tameka Kee