There are an estmated 400 ad networks. Now there's one less. Eight-year-old Jellycloud, known as Gator or Claria in earlier incarnations, has shut down. Valleywag heard word repo men showed up over the weekend and hauled away the furniture. About $50 million in funding from US Venture Partners, SoftBank, Sand Hill Capital and Crosslink Capital -- and about 36 jobs -- are gone.
Plenty more of these obits to come: There are way too many ad networks, and many networks more often than not lower value for sites with annoying, poorly targeted ads. A soft advertising market is making the underlying problems all the worse, and even mega-players like AOL's (TWX) Platform A are in trouble. Get used to the image to the right.
See also:
AOL: Now Our Ad Network Business Is Seizing Up, Too
ENOUGH ALREADY: People, Please STOP LAUNCHING AD NETWORKS
Ad Networks Are For Losers
Ad Networks Still Hurting; Rates Down And Staying There