Vol. 1 No. 3 Fall 2006
Engine Update
Google
Google has been the most active dealmaker over the past several months. Most recently, News Corp tapped Google to provide search listings for MySpace and other Fox Interactive Media properties in a $900 million deal. The arrangement includes Google providing contextual and keyword-targeted ads, expanding Google'sreach and allowing MySpace to better brand itself as a portal for its 100 million users.
In other news, Google will deliver ad-supported video clips from Viacom'sMTV Networks to select AdSense publishers; MTV will sell the ads. MTV Networks is also selling programs through Google Video for $1.99 per episode.
If that wasn't enough, Google also inked a deal with XM Satellite Radio, where Google, through its acquisition of dMarc Broadcasting, will broker ads on XM'snon-music commercial channels. Google plans to incorporate dMarc into AdWords.
Those aren't the only frontiers Google is pioneering. In August, it released a report questioning the methodology of various click fraud tracking companies, insisting that click fraud rates are much lower than many figures cited in the media. In late June, Google Checkout debuted as a payment processing option for advertisers.
Yahoo!
Yahoo! has been developing a range of its services. Yahoo! Answers, no longer in beta, now has well more than 10 million answers on its site. Yahoo! Real Estate now incorporates property price estimates from Zillow.com. Yahoo! Search Builder lets publishers customize the search experience for their visitors with a tool similar to startup Rollyo.
Two other developments are more pertinent specifically to search marketers. First, Yahoo! has announced that its new advertising platform, dubbed Project Panama, will debut in the first quarter of 2007. It offered a preview in August at Search Engine Strategies in San Jose, CA. In other news, Yahoo!'snew search crawler, Slurp, debuted in July. Slurp is said to be more efficient, requiring the crawler to make fewer visits to a site while still keeping its rankings fresh. This follows in the footsteps of Google'sBigDaddy infrastructure update, and this had little to no effect on rankings.
Microsoft
Much of Microsoft'sfocus now is rolling out new Windows Live services, such as Windows Live Spaces, the social network previously known as MSN Spaces. Microsoft is also rolling out new research tools available at adCenter Labs.
To read 360i'sPOV on Social Network Advertising or Google Checkout, or for a copy of Google'sclick fraud report, please contact your strategic advisor.
