[Helen]

saw this on Mad.co.uk - anyone close to adwords know anything about this?

25 April 2005, mad.co.uk
By Jim Butcher
Google is looking to build on its domination of the search advertising market by moving into mainstream display advertising.
The move marks a departure from Google's usual cost-per-click (CPC) system, where advertisers pay when internet users click on their messages.
Instead, the new Google service will involve the more traditional advertising industry model of cost per mille (CPM), where advertisers pay a fee for every thousand people who see their ad.
The new test version is being introduced by Google this week and will give advertisers more control over where their ads are shown, how they pay for them and what they look like.
Analysts believe the move could attract more big-name advertisers that favour expensive, high-tech web ads promoting their brands, opening up a vast new avenue of opportunity for Google, which has in the past been criticised for developing interesting ideas that have no clear way to make money.
Signalling a deeper push into the branded advertising market, the move will match Google against companies such as DoubleClick, which also places display ads on other companies' web-sites in return for a fee.
"We see this as connecting with more of our advertisers' needs," said Tim Armstrong, vice president of marketing at Google, adding that CPM advertising was more suited to companies wishing to raised awareness for their products rather than prompt a user to click through to another site.
"Now our system takes things very literally," said Susan Wojcicki, Google's director for product management