I see lots of short term websites popping up on HN. Sites that ride on the tail of a meme or one that has a lot of traffic but only for a week or two.<p>I often have smart or funny ideas* for a site of that description but I wouldn't really want to spend money on it.<p>Do ads recoup the cost of the domain name and hosting? I know it might not be much, especially if noone actually uses the site but it could potentially be a few hundred euro if the site took off.<p>Assuming that ads do cover the costs, what advertising network do you use? Are some better than other for monetising a short term site? The only ad network I know of is Adsense.
If you only know of Adsense, go to google and type in "Advertising Network" and you can see a huge list pop up.<p>You know of Adsense bc it's one of the best ones and in terms of revenue generation.<p>If you have a niche topic that is going viral, it could be wiser to go to an affiliate advertising network and go for the commissions - make sure you know your demographic though.<p>Clicksor
Adknowledge
Adbrite
Adonion
Bing/Yahoo!/Adcenter<p>There is a ton more...
Working in media for a full digital agency: several but below are two that might be useful to you.<p>Addynamo - Good traffic, good reporting, good agency commission.<p>Admob - Biggest mobile ad network, owned by Google, great analytics.<p>List on the Google Display network if you fall short of other options.