Yahoo! Shutting Down Yahoo! Publisher Network

Yahoo! has decided to close the Yahoo! Publisher Network. For those of you who are not familiar with the Yahoo! Publisher Network, it is a contextual advertising network that relies on ads from the Yahoo! Search Marketing program.

The Yahoo! Publisher Network takes ads from their Yahoo! Search Marketing program and, just like the Google AdSense program, allows independent websites to publish the ads–and share in the revenue.

Here is the email that I just got from Yahoo!:

Dear Publisher,

Yahoo! continuously evaluates and prioritizes our products and services, in alignment with business goals and our continued commitment to deliver the best consumer and advertiser experiences. After conducting an extensive review of the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program, we have decided to close the program effective April 30, 2010. We expect to deliver final publisher payments for the month ending April 30, 2010 to publishers no later than May 31, 2010. All publishers eligible for 1099s for the 2010 tax year will have those mailed by January 31, 2011.

Because our content will no longer be delivered to your ad unit spaces after April 30, 2010, we recommend removing all YPN ad code from your pages by that date.

For the opportunity to continue earning revenue, we suggest using Chitika, a leading advertising network that syndicates Yahoo! Content Match and Sponsored Search ads. Chitika has set up a special process for YPNO beta publishers to participate in its platform. Click here for more information.

We thank you for your participation in the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta. If you have any questions regarding this announcement, please contact our Support Team at (866) 785-2636, Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PDT.
Sincerely,

Your Partners at Yahoo!

I am not surprised that Yahoo! has decided to shut down the Yahoo! Publisher Network program, since many things are changing over at Yahoo! because of the agreement between Yahoo! and Microsoft is now official. I would bet, though, that since the Microsoft AdCenter ads are going to be showing up over on Yahoo! then there is going to be another contextual advertising program announced soon.