• ClickZ, Tuesday, February 7, 2006 10:16 AM

Leveraging its massive affiliate network, Amazon.com has launched a third party contextual network to rival the likes of Google and Yahoo. The Internet retailing giant is testing a program that distributes third-party contextual ad links to its affiliate network. Like Google's AdSense, Amazon and the affiliate each receive a cut (though the split is undisclosed) when users click on ads that are targeted based on the page's content. The text links appear alongside affiliates' links to Amazon product pages. Amazon said the move is intended to develop and maintain long-term relationships with its affiliates. Thus far, only those affiliates hand picked by Amazon are participating in the beta test, which started January 27.

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