Previously, Burst focused exclusively on brand advertisers, said CEO Jarvis Coffin. "Now is the time to provide a differentiated level of service," he said of the new network, adding that it will give direct response advertisers "the kind of efficiencies they need to be successful."
Burst Direct will sell into space that Burst's brand advertising network eschewed, including remnant inventory. The new direct-response network also will include Web sites that did not qualify for the brand network, either because their reach, content, or audience quality was insufficient, Coffin said.
Another difference between Burst's brand network and the new one is that the former informs advertisers exactly which sites their ads will be running on, but Burst Direct will be nontransparent, with ad buys being made over thousands of unspecified sites.
Burst's play for direct advertisers will put them in competition with some of the older and larger players in the ad network space, including Advertising.com, ValueClick, and BlueLithium--all of which run large-volume online ad networks.