Viral Ad Network

When we first launched the Viral Ad Network, we provided publishers with two methods for ads to be inserted onto their page.

Ads could either be inserted into a <div> (which used a blocking document.write call behind the scenes), or they could be inserted into an <iframe>. The majority of publishers only ever used the iframe method, but a few were provided with div insertion codes.

As our ad serving capabilities have advanced, we’ve created more and more formats which only work when inserted as an iframe (e.g. What we now call “Fun Units”).

At the same time, we have advanced our iframe insertion significantly:

• iframes are now loaded asynchronously on most web browsers – meaning your website loads much faster while our ads load in parallel.
• We’ve added lightbox ad formats, and extra library methods for ads which make our iframes super-powerful.

iframes brought many other improvements, such as fraud prevention and extra security for viewers from potential “malvertising” and “clickjacking” attacks.

We have now switched all ad unit embeds over to the iframe method.

You do not need to make any changes, and this should affect very few publishers.

However, if your current ad unit embed code contains a <script> tag pointing to this url:

http://syndication1.viraladnetwork.net/getad/?style=frame

Then you can now make your site a little bit faster for some users by changing that url to:

http://syndication1.viraladnetwork.net/getad/

All new embed codes will reference this new url, and the probability that it will already be cached in your user’s browser (or by a proxy) is higher.

#KittenCamp fans might remember the lovely folks from Syzygy joining us back in February last year with some awesome poster prizes challenging guests to spot the Twenty things that happened on the internet in 2010. This year they’ve got a new challenge… you guessed it, Twenty things that happened on the internet 2011. There’s a bit of everything – from top memes, social media highlights and industry news stories, can you spot them all?

(You can check out the answers to see how many you got right here.)