Automattic Strikes a Deal with Federated Media to Bring Adverts to WordPress.com

WordPress.com users will soon be able to monetize their blogs after a deal was struck between Automattic and Federated Media. Of course, us WordPress self-hosted folks have long be knowledgeable on the dark arts of blog monetization but this announcement clears the way for WordPress.com bloggers to start making some hard cash out of their efforts.

It’s long been a sticking point for WordPress.com users that they are unable to include adverts on their blog and generate revenue from it. Many bloggers are forced to jump ship from WordPress.com to a self-hosted platform in order to make money. No doubt people who have thousands of visitors a day to their blog will be whoop-whoop-whooping at the news.

The announcement, made at the Web 2.0 Conference yesterday, said that WordPress.com users will be able to include adverts in their site. Advertisers who are using the Federated Media network will be able to target their adverts to blogs providing complementary content.

The deal gives Federated Media exclusive advertising rights to WordPress.com – that’s 24 million blogs. It’s a sweet deal for all parties involved.

Details of how revenue sharing will take place, and how adverts will appear, have yet to be revealed. However, it’ll be interesting to see how the plans pan out, and whether it has any effect on people moving from WordPress.com to self-hosted sites.