Google is taking a big step toward becoming an online banner-advertising network as the market for brand ads heats up.
Beginning Monday, the search giant will start allowing advertisers to display ads that contain animated images on third-party partner sites--a first for Google and a departure from company co-founders' early stance against such Web advertising. (Google itself still shows only text ads on its site.)
With the move, Google is helping stoke a revival of the online ad network that enjoyed popularity in the late 1990s. At the time, early industry leaders like DoubleClick, 24/7 Media and Engage controlled the ad sales of tens of thousands of publishers' sites, targeting display ads like banners based on specialty categories such as cooking and sports.
