"Engagement," or, who reads this stuff, anyway? (part 1)

Today I received a rate care I had requested from Soy Daily (Our World of Soy I could imagine reading, but I don't think I could handle it daily). I won't post the rate card, because they don't, but the top of the card listed their "bargain" rates pay-per-view rates that started around $20 per thousand; no guarantee (that I saw) of unique visitors. Below that were their display rates, with a button ad starting around $600/month on the main part of their site. they also offer an ad in their weekly newsletter for nominal flat monthly fee. They also prefer Paypal, but will accept checks with prior arrangement.

I hope this sort of pricing structure and flexibility becomes a trend. I think it might, based on the hopeful comments the folks at MediaPost 1, 2 have been making recently about the rise of online display (re: Yahoo) as a viable alternative to search (re: Google). More importantly, in the latter reference Jeff Hircsh celebrates the seeming decline of Click Through Rate (CTR) as the be-all-and-end-all of online advertising, as a measure of the ever-elusive concept, "engagement."