- Calling it inept internet advertising is missing the point. Adwords created a market for what is essentially a raw input very quickly. But all of the rest of

- Calling it inept internet advertising is missing the point. Adwords created a market for what is essentially a raw input very quickly. But all of the rest of the ecosystem had to be in place to drive bids up to their current level. I see this in action every day. We build or modify sites specifically to get the most out of adwords. Run the ad campaigns. Tinker with ads. Gather data. Tinker with the sites. Modify campaigns. etc. This drives up the value of a click via higher conversion rates. Because the environment is competitive, this drives up the price of the click. This is an economic cycle with powerful extremely powerful feedback effects. The market matured over time and in some places faster then others. I think that in some places opportunities still exist, adwords bids remaining relatively low. Remember that the adwords system is DIY platform, which got this system hyper-charged. The conventional sell-washing-powder-on-TV system took decades to bid up th price of air time. If you want to build a conventional sell-to-the-CEO channel, then the US, with its existing sales channels is going to grow faster. That doesn't mean South Africa will never get there. - Credit System Issues Adwords in not driven by online shopping. Bids for things like roofing, insurance or loans are higher then bids for phones, laptops or books. No credit or trust necessary, just a capacity to purchase services somehow. Anyway, facebook & youtube do not have 'native' monetisation systems yet, so it's hard to say whether or not they will work some place. - Penetration (of internet access) is beside the point. No access = no cost to internet services.