Advertising
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.
YouTube InVideo Ads in the Philippines
YouTube InVideo ads have been running in the States for a while now, but this is the first time I’ve seen one in the Philippines. Hey, Philippine advertisers, if you’re sick of local TV stations squabbling over ratings, give YouTube a try. It’s huge in the Philippines.
YouTube InVideo, in particular, offers quite a few advantages over other ad formats.
CTR on YouTube InVideo ads is five times that on YouTube page display ads. YouTube InVideo ads can be targeted by age, gender, genre, time, and/or location… Ad videos can be any length, since viewers can dismiss and recall them at will. By adding a second layer of airtime possible only inside online video, YouTube has completely bypassed the traditional time limits of TV ads.
