Do you also love banner ads? Well, soon Gmail, YouTube and other Google properties will serve them in significant sizes. See the example in this post:

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=144798

Tadeusz: According to the linked article, display advertising in Gmail is not quite as certain as you make out.

But it would be a terrible thing. Ads elsewhere are OK, but email is a working tool in use for long hours each day.

When I'm searching on Google I'm looking for something, so the ads might sometimes be relevant and useful. But when I'm reading and responding to emails, the last thing I want to see is ads.

Besides, I don't think I've ever clicked a Gmail ad. Oh wait, the whole point of display ads is that they pay by impression, not by attention or click.

I once tried to use Yahoo Mail for a while, but the banner ads – which happened to reload when you clicked around – were one of the things that put me off. If they ever come to Gmail, and they'll be annoying, I might just switch to an ad blocker (I still don't use any).

Admittedly, accessing the net from China, what's more of a barrier to surfing is the abundance of twitter/ facebook/ friendfeed/ etc. widgets – because they will often prevent a page from loading (as these particular domains are all blocked here).

Well, I've clicked an CO.CC's advertisement in Gmail before. I was trying to find a free short subdomain provider with DNS support then, and I saw that ad! XD

They probably plan to acquire Adblock Plus /sarcasm

Adblock Plus still makes me happy. We'll find a way around if it's necesary, I think?

From the article:

"But perhaps the more significant strategy on display was Mr. Mohan's presentation of what he called the Google Display Network, which included YouTube as well as Google properties Google Finance, Google Maps, Google Books and even Gmail."

I think there's a misunderstanding here. "Google Display Network" is just a new name for "Google Content Network", a list of sites that display AdSense ads. Like many other Google services, Gmail is part of Google Display (Content) Network, but it only shows text ads.

"The Google Display Network will comprise all of the sites (apart from search sites), where you can buy ads through Google, including YouTube, Google properties such as Google Finance, Gmail, Google Maps, Blogger as well as over one million Web, video, gaming, and mobile display partners (our display partners include all of our AdSense and DoubleClick Ad Exchange partner sites that allow text and/or display ads). The Google Display Network offers all ad formats – text, image, rich media, and video ads – enabling you to unleash your creativity and engage potential customers across the Web."

http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/06/introducing-google-display-network.html

Just because a site is in Google Display Network, it doesn't mean that it shows image ads. It was a big mistake to rename "Google Content Network" as "Google Display Network", but Google wants to appeal to the advertisers that spend a lot on display ads.

A better article about the same event: http://www.adexchanger.com/ad-exchange-news/google-display/

"With the recent acquisitions of Teracent and Invite Media, there was the sense from the presenation that in comparison to the cost of these two companies ($100-120 million total?), Google is spending much more internally to win the display race. One of the presentation slides had a chart with no Y axis which intended to tell the story of the Google display story as the space's opportunity increases. Mohan labeled Google's internal efforts as "extremely" focused on display."

Ionut, would you be surprised if Gmail gets some banners in the next few years?

I wouldn't because of this http://www.google.com/support/finance/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=116503.

I would be surprised because big banners don't make too much sense in a web application that's used frequently, they're distracting and they might even become annoying.

Google has never said that it won't add displays ads in Gmail.

"With Gmail, you'll never see pop-ups or *untargeted* banner ads. Instead we display text ads and related links you might find useful and interesting." (http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en/about.html)

Google could show targeted banner ads, but I don't think that will happen in the near future. Most likely, the AdAge article made the assumption that Gmail will add images ads just because Gmail is part of Google Display Network, which is a mistake.