Using widgets as ad units is all the rage today. It is a low hanging fruit for how advertisers are thinking of changing their current online ad paradigm. There are numerous companies right now working to find a solution. Here are a couple of thoughts for everyone to consider:

1) You can't make widget ads look like any other ad unit. Users are not going to react to a new type of banner ad. This is all about Rich Interactive Content and it is important to make the widget ad more of a user defined experience rather than thrusting it on them. Death to Banner Ads!!

2) Content creation is a major bottleneck. There are numerous companies working on ways to combine, condense and make it easier for information to be be channeled to the end creative.

3) Compelling content is key. Why does someone want to bring a Widget into their own environment? Relevancy, fresh content, and uniqueness is key.

So where does Sprout fit within the value chain of creating new Widget ads? We are squarely focused on content creation. Our primary assumption is that if you can not quickly create content that is compelling there is no reason to distribute it. We are planning to make a major announcement regarding our Sprout Ad Network Integration Program next week at Adtech:SF. We'll post more info soon!