Yahoo, Google, and MSN Fighting to Dominate Ad Exchange Markets
May 1st, 2007 by msdanielle
It seems like the latest trend in online acquisitions is of premium advertising networks by the major search engine giants. Google’s had the strong hold on content text advertising, but seemingly their display network didn’t pan out as they’d hoped (much like their Google Video), so they acquired DoubleClick. If you can’t create the best network, buy it! Right?
Well, that seems to be the mantra that Yahoo’s picked up from Google. Enter Yahoo’s announcement to acquire Right Media. Right Media owns an advertising exchange platform that displays the highest bidding advertiser for each publisher’s site. According to John Chow, you can add AdSense into your advertiser rotation. (Read his review of Right Media for program details and reader feedback.) I haven’t tried using the system yet because I’m still focusing on gaining traffic.
In all, I like the idea of Yahoo pushing for an open media exchange, with publisher and advertiser transparency. Some speculate that Yahoo still can’t catch up to Google with this move, but it’s a strategic move regardless. Where’s MSN in all this? According to SE Roundtable, MSN challenged Google’s acquisition, and while Yahoo turned lemons into lemonade, “Microsoft just stared at the lemons and brought them to the government for review.”
Discussions:
- WebmasterWorld: Yahoo Announces Right Media Acquision
- WebmasterWorld: Competitors Questions Google’s Acquisition of DoubleClick
- DigitalPoint Forums: Yahoo to Compete with Google
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The only thing that’s going to bring down Google is when Yahoo and MSN pull their head out of their ass and start working on their search rankings systems so that it can be at least somewhat competitive with Google. Once that happens, they need to focus their energies on improving their PPC programs so that publishers can confidently use their systems to increase their revenues. Competition breeds innovation! I never thought I’d say this, but it’s time to bust a Rowse and knock Google off their high horse, too!
The adsense/adwords interface is just so easy to use. Kicked the butt of any competitor. That is the main reason I prefer it.
i’ve used adwords extensively and it’s by far a better interface than YSM or MSN adcenter. i’ve just started dabbling in adsense for this blog (obviously not that much) but it was super easy to set up. have you tried RMX yet? just wondering if anyone has seen a benefit from using it. at the least, like JC says, you’ll know if adsense actually is giving the best eCPM.
The only thing that’s going to bring down Google is when Yahoo and MSN pull a magic wand out of their ass and turn Google into a frog…
If they were capable of doing the things Gary suggests they would have already done so…
I like Google products, I like the fact that they back firefox and are user centric. MS on the other hand insist on turning everything blue, making sure it will only run on MS platforms and generally slowing things down…
Will MS adds only run on windows servers I wonder
V well written article BTW Danielle….
thanks for your feedback Jez
inside i wish they could find that magic wand because even though google has the best platform so far, having one company making all the rules seems daunting. they can literally make or break any online business. ANY… if you get screwed by google, and you’re left with only yahoo and msn, you’re virtually left with nothing! i know, i know… play by the rules 
Its hard to play by the rules when you don’t know what they are…. There are loads of grey hatters boosting sites for profit with no Ill effect.
I was looking at a PR 5 site the other day trying to figure out how certain things were being done and found ALL the content was duplicated from other sources, but the site was still being indexed in Google… whether it stays there is a different matter…. the point is no-one really understands googles rules….. but some people are better at breaking them
Whilst Google is undoubtedly a long way ahead, it is comforting to see companies like Yahoo and MSN refusing to give up. Competition encourages innovation and a better deal for customers. The more competition people can put up against Google, the better for all of us.
- Martin Reed