It is very easy to presuppose that the only way to get value from advertisers is through ads. But then you are assuming that only people who will sponsor your c

It is very easy to presuppose that the only way to get value from advertisers is through ads. But then you are assuming that only people who will sponsor your content are either add-networks, or corporations who will require that you use traditional forms of advertising (banner and sidebar ads). If you are simply interested in generating revenue from any corporate sponsor, the question becomes a little bit more open ended. I think that is what he is pointing out with his specific examples about UPS, Intel, and Sun. Not only were the companies sponsoring content, they were sponsoring a specific project that interested all parties involved (and disclosing that). The interesting subtext of this discussion is that as users we really hate the sketchy tactics put forth by ad-networks, and that as content providers, ad-networks are the 'easy' solution (easier than doing real legwork to get actual corporate sponsors).