Assuming users want to
talk to marketers anyway

NetShelter has launched an offering that enables marketers, publishers and consumers to communicate openly about products and services.

Headed by SVP/Media and Chief Publisher Patrick Houston, the Open Media Platform targets marketers that wish to embed ads on contextually relevant sites while engaging users in an "ongoing dialogue more deeply than ever before."

"We open the conversation to [our] audience of more than 50 million unique visitors and encourage marketers to provide contextually appropriate ideas and opinions" on sponsored content, Houston explained, calling the end result "synergistic" with what tech-savvy consumers and enterprises want.

The Open Media Platform was unveiled in conjunction with "Last Gadget Standing," a technological "people's choice award" that takes place at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this month. A subsite, LastGadgetStanding.com will include aggregated video and content coverage of the event from NetShelter's network. Contest submissions will also be showcased there.

"We want to give [marketers] a seat in the conversation that takes place in the community of experts and users that constitutes the channel," Houston said.

NetShelter recently unseated CNET as the top Technology News Web Property, per comScore Media Metrix. It launched its tech site-based ad network in May 2006.