The big web sites such as Yahoo!, MSNBC, etc. are able to charge on a pay-per-view basis becuase they have the traffic to provide value to that model. It works in the same way a billboard on the side of the road or even a tv/radio commercial works in that they can say "We have 1mm users see this page every day, so this ad space is worth $XXXX".
The difference is that the these sites can "prove" how many times an ad is served up through exact tracking down to the user where the traditional media have to base their numbers off of a user group rating (Neilson).
While an average site can provide this same exact user information, the traffic may not be heavy enough to warrant an advertiser to pay for your ad space. If they do, they won't pay as much because they are not getting as many views as the big sites do.
One caveat to that is that if you have a niche site based on a specific subject of interest, for instance, WiFi equipment. You might be able to get a Netgear to pay a little more becuase you are placing their ads directly in front of their target audience (also called a demographic or demo).
Bottom line is the more traffic you have and the more targeted the audience the more you can charge for your ad space.
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