Rather than sell those eyeballs programmatically for pennies, Bankoff has built a sales team of 26 that direct-sells premium sponsorships to the likes of BMW, Microsoft and Samsung.

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At FORBES, direct sales for our premium content (as opposed to programmatic buying) consistently yields much higher CPMs for desktop and frequently for mobile.

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LinkedIn offers premium memberships with features such as enhanced search, direct messaging and seeing who has viewed your profile.

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After Verizon Mobile Security Premium is purchased, customers get the ease and convenience of direct billing to their monthly account statements.

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On the plus side, the services can accept reservations at any time, track their customers' behavior to provide personalized services such as identifying regular customers and their preferences for seating, and use direct-marketing techniques to drive business on slow nights, fill cancellations or offer premium seating.

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According to Tim Berry, a director of Primary Direct Travel Insurance, travel agents have until now been able to earn commission worth up to half the premium on the insurance.

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