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MSN PPC Advertising Network Finally Debuts
MSN is launching its own PPC advertising program with new demographic and
behavioral targeting features in France and Singapore in mid-late 2005.
2005-03-17
Joel Walsh
MSN PPC Advertising Long-Awaited Debut Announced
You probably already know that there are really only two major players in the
world of PPC advertising: Overture and Google Adwords. By the end of 2005, there
will likely be a third: Microsoft's MSN Search.
Microsoft recently announced that it is launching its new MSN PPC advertising
engine in Singapore and France by mid-late 2005. Smart marketers are probably
already planning how they might justify advertising their products or services
in Singapore to get a taste of the new service. The service's introduction into
Canada, the UK, and the US may very well come before the end of 2005.
The new MSN advertising program has been long awaited. MSN is Microsoft's
leading website property, and perhaps the web's most visited "portal" (website
with both search and content such as news) after Yahoo! MSN's search engine
accounts for one in five web searches, putting it in third place behind Google
and Yahoo!
Search engine advertising mostly a two-player game
Currently, MSN shows advertising that comes from Overture, the web's largest
online advertising network in terms of revenue. Overture was bought by Yahoo! a
number of years ago. Since Yahoo! is the direct competitor of MSN in every way,
plenty of people have been wondering why MSN didn't take its advertising program
in-house long ago. It seems especially strange considering that even Lycos,
whose search engine now accounts for a small fraction of total web searches, has
its own advertising network.
In many minds, the fact that Microsoft would go to Overture only demonstrated
how excellent an online advertising program Overture was, and just how hard it
really is to set one up. Before going to Overture, MSN was getting advertising
from LookSmart, an advertising network that does not own any websites that
compete with Microsoft properties in any big way. Even before it had lost its
largest advertising outlet, LookSmart was widely seen as a subpar second-tier
engine, in a category with FindWhat or even Kanoodle. The fact that LookSmart
had seemingly squandered a chance to make inroads into an online advertising
market dominated by two big players cast a lot of doubt on whether there would
ever be a serious challenger to Google Adwords and Overture.
What Microsoft's new advertising network means for the future
Will the new MSN advertising network succeed where so many have failed? Or will
it become a bloated, relatively uncompetitive product only supported by
Microsoft's vast bulk? (Not that Bill Gates has ever fathered such a bastard
child.)
There's a very good reason to believe that the new advertising program bears the
seeds of its own destruction, thanks to a typically Microsoftian act of
overreaching and obliviousness to public opinion. That bad seed is the same bad
seed that has spoiled the fruits of so many internet marketing labors:
behavioral and demographic targeting, which always seems to disagree with some
people's stomachs, no matter how delicately it is arranged in the bowl.
(Editor's note: too extended a metaphor? Well, website copywriters have egos,
too, you know, just like the rest of the web dev. community. At least you didn't
have to sit through five minutes of flash animation to read this.)
Next: MSN PPC Advertising to Incorporate Demographic & Behavioral Targeting:
Killer App. or Achilles Heel?
Microsoft's press release announcing the new MSN advertising program is also
worth reading if you're that into this.
Joel Walsh is the head writer at UpMarket, internet marketing services, online
copywriting services, & website content provider focusing on small and
medium-sized businesses and those who serve them. Website:
www.upmarketcontent.com
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