Microsoft-Yahoo? Who Cares?

Unable to compete with Google AdSense on its own, Microsoft tries the only thing it knows how to do: buy something, anything. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is offering to buy Yahoo for a whopping $44.6 billion.

Microsoft still doesn’t get it. Google AdSense reaches into the global Long Tail of ad space: sites outside the US. Neither Microsoft adCenter nor the Yahoo Publisher Network can do that. Until either of them does, Ballmer’s proposal doesn’t mean squat to me and thousands of other AdSense publishers worldwide.

Back in the late nineties, I advertised with Microsoft’s old LinkExchange service. I got pretty good clickthrough rates for the pre-contextual days, and I paid well for campaigns. My LinkExchange banners appeared on sites big and small, inside and outside the US. Why can’t Microsoft tap small global publishers like LinkExchange did, especially now that there are so many more of those small global publishers? Oh, that’s right: they’re stupid.

When it comes to online advertising, Yahoo can’t compete with Google in the first place. What the Hell makes Ballmer think buying Yahoo will make Microsoft competitive with Google? Oh, that’s right: he’s desperate.

As a non-US AdSense publisher, why should I even care if Microsoft buys Yahoo? Oh, that’s right: I shouldn’t. Neither should the vast majority of the world’s webmasters.

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February 2, 2008 | Filed Under Advertising 

Comments

5 Responses to “Microsoft-Yahoo? Who Cares?”

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