Two months ago, Digg announced a lynchpin in its revenue strategy: Digg Ads. The program, an attempt to fix the company's inability to turn a profit, allows users to vote on specific ads within the homepage feed. The more diggs, the less the ad costs to the advertisers. But if Digg users hate the ad, then their downvotes increase the ad price.
It's a system to made ads relevant to the user while giving them prime placement. Until now, however, it's been under construction. That changes soon though, as we we've learned that Digg Ads are rolling out this week.
In a short announcement to the Digg community, the social news site stated that it's implementing a limited rollout of the new advertising system in order to test and tweak the platform. Here's what Mike Maser, Digg's Chief Strategy and Revenue Officer, said:
"Over the next few days, some of you will see Digg Ads appear in rotation in various placements throughout Digg. The ads will look and feel similar to the Digg content you see everyday - stories, video trailers, independent product reviews – but will be clearly marked as sponsored."