Back in September 2005, Google announced an end to commission payments to
agencies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, replaced by "Best Practice Funding." That was to me simply
still paying commissions, only under a different name and a more standardized
pan-European rate. Now even Best Practice Funding is going away.
Google to end ad agency subsidy from The Guardian has more details on the
move. The program is to stop at the end of 2008. Despite being called something
other than a commission — and sometimes described as a way for agencies to try
new ad offerings from Google — the payments were not restricted in anyway, to
my knowledge. You know, like commissions.