—Social Nets Attract Higher Ad Revenue, But Still Not Best For Brands: US social networking revenues could reach $1 billion in 2007, up from last year’s $400 million, according to a report from IDC (via eMarketer) called Social Networking Services in the US – Popular, Yes, But How to Monetize Them? The news of that rise in spending social nets also brought a warning from IDC that they may not be the best ad vehicle due to the varying quality and taste associated with user-generated content. As result, some social nets may never be able to draw in marketers on a grand scale.

—Double Fusion Brings Spot Buying To In-Game Ads: In-game ad company Double Fusion says it has new technology that will allow marketers to purchase last-minute ads, similar to spot-buying for TV. The new tool, called fusion.runtime, will be presented at the Austin Game Developers Conference. The technology removes in-game ads from the development process and would let game developers carve out new placements in completed games, including titles in a company’s back catalog.

—Yahoo And R.H. Donnelley Expand Local Marketing Efforts: Local marketing firm R.H. Donnelley (NYSE: RHD) has expanded its relationship with Yahoo Local (NSDQ: YHOO). The agreement covers additional ad distribution along Yahoo’s maps and other local search tools.

—Video Site GoFish Taps Adap.tv For Contexual Ad Placement: Right on the heels of YouTube’s introduction of its new ad overlay format, online video network GoFish (OTC:GOFH )has entered into a strategic partnership with in-video ad provider adap.tv. GoFish will insert contextual ads within the video clips shown on the site is similar to YouTube’s overlay plan.

—Yellow Book Tests Online Video Ads: Local directory Yellow Book has gathered small- and medium-sized business to experiment the effectiveness of video ads for local marketers. Among the local businesses participating in the test with Yellow Book is a plumbing contractor in Virginia and a Texas merchant who sells nuts, dried fruit and candy. The move follows a similar test that Yellow Book online rival Superpages.com started in July on the west coast. Superpages is still undecided on a pricing model, but believes that it can charge less than $1,000 to cover production costs, while instituting additional fees for media buying and distribution. 

—Send Traffic Unveils New Fee Structure For Online Search: Direct marketer Send Traffic says it has ended the use of the agency fee and is charging clients on a strictly cost-per-click basis, a move the company says is saving clients money and spurring greater efficiencies. The change also appears to reflect growing demands from marketers regarding compensation methods, as more search advertisers say they want to tie payments to results and ROI measurements.
 
—Retailer Drops Google AdWords Trademark Infringement Suit: Although not one of the bigger lawsuits it’s been hit with in recent years, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) did catch a break Monday, as a window blinds reseller that accused the internet searcher with trademark infringement related to its AdWords policy has decided to drop the case after four years. In 2003, the American Blind & Wallpaper Factory filed a suit in U.S. District Court for Northern California saying that Google violated its trademarks by letting its competitors purchase ads that would appear alongside search results looking for similar services to the ones it offered. In the end, both sides agreed to settle the suit, with neither accepting or assigning liability.