iGoogle to Get Ads This Summer, Is Google Reader Next?

Google developer Dan Holevoet published the roadmap for the forthcoming changes to the iGoogle personalized home page. You can check out the presentation here.

The site, which anecdotally I can tell you is getting very popular, will get a new canvas view (below) starting in June and social features over the summer. However, what's most notable is that iGoogle is getting ads. They have not shown yet what this will look like visually. However, there is more info posted in an official FAQ.

According to the Google deck and FAQ, ads will appear embedded in the widgets themselves and only in the new canvas view - offering developers a way to monetize. In addition, Google will solicit feedback from users as they go. However, I wonder if this is going to add to the clutter of the site. Further, I would be interested if the developers use Open Social features to make the ads as social as the widgets promise to become.

Meanwhile in related news, Google Reader is closing in on Bloglines, according to new data from Hitwise. The site is currently free of ads but with Google's purchase of Feedburner I wonder if a Gmail-like model is in the works for this site too - particularly as its use increases. Ideally this would encourage feed owners to join Feedburner's ad networks and share in the monetization in and Adsense like model.

Comments

[Jason McElweenie]

I'm sure the popularity of iGoogle is growing and I may be of the small group of people who despise it. As a web marketer and frequenter of Google I find it extremely annoying that if I am logged into Google it will force me to iGoogle. This page takes some time to load and for someone who is extremely impatient when it comes to wanting to know something quick this isn't acceptable. I have removed it from my Google account so this isn't a problem at my office but when I get home on our computer I am always forced to iGoogle because my wife uses it. Sure there are workarounds for this but why should I be forced to create multiple users accounts on my computer(our home computer requires that you log off to switch to a different user) or go to another Google site to log off and then try Google. I find that unacceptable as well and in my opinion goes against the 'Don't Be Evil' mantra. I find it more annoying than popups.

If they can somehow have the page load in less time then I am all for it. Hell, my Yahoo page loads in a quarter of the time, I'm sure they are written differently but I don't care. I want it fast or leave me alone

[technology pr]

with more and more readers reading blogs without leaving their readers, there should be some better way of monetizing blog feeds. feed burner can feed on the well established adwords user base to sell the feeds to advertisers.

[Eric Engleman]

We've been tracking the Hitwise data for a while. Google Reader has yet to catch Bloglines. We have a few surprises up our sleeves for the summer.

Eric Engleman - GMTeam Bloglines!

[Ellie]

Well, I use Firefox with AdBlockPlus, so it won't matter to me if they use ads on iGoogle, Google Reader, etc.

[Eric]

A few widgets already have PPC ads embedded in them, although I've never made the effort to learn if they're Google-generated or author-generated.

The earlier comment about being forced to iGoogle surprised me.

While I'm a big iGoogle user, out of sheer instinct I forget both iGoogle and my toolbar and I key in www.google.com when I'm just searching.

I've never had that forced push over to iGoogle happen (and it does show me logged in).

[Brian]

Not a great lover of igoogle, I also use AdBlockPlus with firefox, I dont have anytool bars in my browser I find it slows surfing down. But then thats just my 2p worth

Britec - http://www.britec.org.uk

[david cushman]

I'm amazed. Why would they do this? Surely instead of embedding ads in widgets (pasted on content) they should make the service itself a widget which the user finds useful and chooses to use (ad as content).