Google AdSense versus Yahoo Publisher Network: Review

I use both YPN & AdSense. Read below for a summary of my experience with both Google AdSense and Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN).

Ad Relevance / Targeting of YPN & AdSense
AdSense provides much more relevant ads than Yahoo publisher network in general.

However YPN provides publisher the ability to select ad categories for their website. There are 19 categories for you to choose. Each category has multiple sub-categories. For example computing category has the following sub-categories: Computer Hardware, Computer Security, Computer Service & Repair, Computer Software and Internet. As you can see you will get much better ads if you site falls within these defined categories. YPN users should make use of ad targeting for better targeting. You can target a whole domain, specific pages, RSS feeds or even a specific page or RSS post. It is very versatile.

Ad Repeat in YPN & AdSense
In my experience YPN repeats ads for multiple ad-blocks on the same page. Again in my experience AdSense doesn’t do much ad repeats.

CPC, CTR & CPM of YPN & AdSense
YPM in general tends to give much better CPC than AdSense. However your CPM will also depend on CTR which is linked with ad-targeting. I experienced much lower CTR with YPN. Your results will vary based on your niche. Overall publishers report better CPM with YPN. Your mileage may vary. I will start split testing with both networks in a month or so. Will let you know if you are interested.

RSS Ads
YPN allows ads in RSS feeds for all publishers unlike AdSense which selectively choose publishers.

Mode of Payment in YPN & AdSense
AdSense pays by check unless you are super-big.
YPN pays by check as well as can make direct deposit to your bank Account. It is much more convenient than AdSense checks.

Misc.
Yahoo is restricted to US only publishers. You need to have SSN & US address to even apply. AdSense is globally available.

Do not use both of them on the same pages of your site. Their terms of use prevents co-existence on the same page at the same time.

Summary
In summary Yahoo Publisher Network provides more versatile services while AdSense as of now has better ad targeting.