How do I create rotating ad blocks in ASP.NET MVC?

Question

How would you implement a rotating ad-block with each page refresh, similar to what SO does, using ASP.NET MVC?

Do you think they have a session variable with what ad index we are currently viewing and cycle it each request or something else?

Answer 1

I would use OpenX, DART, Google Ad Manager, RightMedia, Rubicon, or some other ad manager.

However, if I wanted to build it myself as an exercise, I would:

1. Create a database table of advertisements
2. In my base controller, select a random advertisement into the ViewData
3. Add a partial view to your master page to render the ad
4. [Most importantly] Use Phil Haack's MVC-style version of "donut caching"

This is the same approach you would use to display a cycled quotation, a randomly featured user, or any other random content that you want to display on every page.