March 14, 2005
Microsoft To Enter Search Ad Arena
Microsoft executives have quietly started briefing key search marketing executives on a new pay-per-click search advertising system, sources said.
This follows news last week that Yahoo executives expect to lose their company's search-advertising deal with MSN, when it expires in June 2006.
The new platform, which sources said would launch by the end of the year, would give advertisers more advanced ad targeting options than Yahoo and Google, according to one executive who previewed it.
Microsoft representatives declined to comment on the new system, but according to a Microsoft researcher's risumi, which was found posted on the company's Web site, the new bid-management tool is called Moonshot, and it has an automated keyword-suggestion feature and contextual targeting that can display the advertisements on Web pages and Instant Messenger, as well as on television.
Microsoft, which has required those briefed to sign strict non-disclosure agreements, also would not comment on the meetings or whether it would replace Yahoo's search advertising.
But there is a general industry consensus that a Microsoft search advertising system is inevitable, given the company's release of its own Web search engine last month. "The clock is ticking and Microsoft is obviously serious," one source said.
A Microsoft paid search platform would add a third widely distributed outlet for search campaigns. Google and Yahoo's search advertising programs currently control 98 percent of the market, according to ComScore Media Metrix.
Microsoft is still building its search advertising sales infrastructure, according to sources. Microsoft employment recruiters have called potential candidates to fill a position to lead MSN's search ad sales strategy. And, in December, Microsoft recruiters posted listings for staff account positions for a new pay-per-click advertising platform on employment Web sites.
