Yahoo: Google vs. Microsoft?
Are Google and Microsoft participating in a Yahoo bidding? http://eicker.at/YahooGoogleMicrosoft
Are Google and Microsoft participating in a Yahoo bidding? http://eicker.at/YahooGoogleMicrosoft
AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo have agreed to sell each other’s display advertising inventory to challenge Google; http://eicker.at/AMY
ATD: “AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft compete for ad dollars. But a new pact calls for the rivals to cooperate on ad sales, too. – The three companies are going to start selling ad inventory on each others’ sites, in a plan they hope will make them more competitive with Google. … Executives from all three companies briefed a group of top Web publishers and ad buyers about the plan at a dinner presentation last night in Manhattan. … The three companies will share revenue on the ads, and supposedly they’ll pocket more than they would have if a third-party ad network sold their stuff.”
Guardian: “The potential tie-up comes days after reports that AOL and Yahoo, fallen giants of the first age of the internet, were discussing a merger in the wake of the firing of Yahoo’s chief executive, Carol Bartz. … The advertising hook-up, in the meantime, could help slow the fast growth of Google and Facebook in the lucrative online display advertising market. – Google has long dominated search advertising – or online classified advertising – but overtook Yahoo in display advertising in May this year in the US, according to research firm IDC.”
pC: “All three of issued statements to the effect that there have been some ties before and the portals are exploring ‘future’ collaborations. … But ultimately, it’s hard to see what the value of the three combining sales efforts would be. There is a tremendous amount of similarity in terms of reach among AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft. So where’s the complement? … The reason Google and Facebook are eating away at the portals’ display dominance is easy: the users that advertisers want to reach are more and more easily reachable through social media sites like Facebook, not through general content offered by portals. At the same time, Google’s tight relationship with the agencies, through its demand side platform Invite Media and the Google DoubleClick ad exchange, make it a more efficient funnel for online ad dollars.”
VB: “Since the three companies will be sharing revenue from the display ads, the real challenge will be in convincing each of their separate sales teams to start selling their competitors’ ad inventory. – The partnership, scheduled to begin by the end of the year, doesn’t require that each of the companies exclusively work with each other, according to the report.”
TNW: “The ad pact will start at the end of 2011 and will not require exclusivity so each company is free to work with any ad network, even Google. I imagine it will still require a bit of training to get their internal sales teams to start selling competitors’ inventory. By banding together in Musketeer style, the three companies will share ad revenues in hopes of increasing their total earnings in Google’s shadow. The online advertising world is one of the most competitive landscapes and as companies go head to head in the language of CPM, CPC, DSP and conversion tracking pixels….it’s like the wild west for geeks out there.”
SEL: How many Google privacy policies are you violating? http://j.mp/a7EZtv
WSJ: Facebook, MySpace etc. have been sending personal data to advertisers, including Google, Yahoo; http://j.mp/boabmu
Google annouced the new DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time marketplace for display advertising; http://j.mp/zXe2d
NYT: “Google’s chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, has said repeatedly that display advertising offers one of the company’s best prospects for expansion, now that growth in its text ad business has slowed significantly. The new advertising exchange is a cornerstone of Google’s display strategy, and one of the main reasons Google bought the ad company DoubleClick last year for $3.1 billion.”
SEL: “In terms of Google’s display ad strategy – an arena where it has the potential to realize the most growth and new revenues – there are really three (or four) components: new and improved display ad formats for the content network (and integrated into search in some cases), video on YouTube and via Google TV Ads and this new ad exchange. Given Google’s reach, influence and footprint, this could turn out to be a huge new arena for the company.”
Mashable: “Essentially, the small-time advertiser or business can now buy targeted display ads on thousands of DoubleClick ad-serving websites. This could have some major repercussions on the entire web. Some possibilities: It could significantly increase revenue for Google, as a highly targeted ad marketplace means people are paying more for the ads they want to serve. It increases Google’s competition with Yahoo, the current leader in display advertising. Highly targeted ad campaigns could effectively reach everywhere. This could be a major boon to marketers.”
pC: “Many feel that Google will not be able to rule display the way it has search. One agency exec I spoke with said, ‘It’s better late than never, but multiple players in the display exchange give Google a significant head start over everyone else. But it’s not a zero-sum game, so I believe multiple exchanges will survive and some will still be able to thrive. The only distinct advantage for Google I see in the immediate-term is in the long-tail publisher space – they’ll be squeezing out some of the loathsome ad network arbitrage junkies.'”
ClickZ: “For ad buyers and sellers, the launch creates a trading pool for display ad inventory that seems destined to rival Yahoo-owned Right Media – currently the dominant player among exchanges. Hundreds of thousands of AdSense publishers and AdWords advertisers are automatically included in the Google exchange at launch, creating vast demand on both the buy and the sell side. Those large and small AdSense publishers are joined by major publishers who use DoubleClick’s Dart for Publishers platform for ad serving and yield optimization, and others Google has struck individual relationships with.”
Adgregate Markets, offering fully transactional display banners, signed a deal with DoubleClick; http://tr.im/imyn
Google implements a DoubleClick ad-serving cookie across the Google content network; http://is.gd/1jw8
Gerrit Eicker 10:39 on 24. October 2011 Permalink |
NYT: “As a host of potential bidders circle Yahoo, several of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies are considering whether to jump into the fray themselves. – Microsoft and Google are both weighing whether to participate in the bidding. … [T]here’s one thing the technology giants have in common: Not one of them wants to actually buy or run Yahoo. – Instead, Microsoft and Google are considering lending financial support to private equity firms or others weighing a bid, according to people briefed on the matter. … With a deal, Google could eventually wrest Yahoo away from Microsoft when their partnership expires. … However, it is unclear whether a Google-Yahoo partnership would pass antitrust scrutiny. … Many of the potential suitors for Yahoo have contacted Alibaba‘s chairman and chief executive, Jack Ma, looking to gauge his interest in working with them, these people said. The agreement that governs Yahoo’s 40 percent stake in his company gives Mr. Ma what some analysts have said is a kingmaker role.”
WSJ: “Google Inc. has talked to at least two private-equity firms about potentially helping them finance a deal to buy Yahoo Inc.’s core business, according to a person familiar with the matter. – Google and prospective partners have held early-stage discussions but haven’t put together a formal proposal and Google may end up not pursuing a bid, this person said. It is unclear which private-equity firms Google has talked to.”
WSJ: “The discussions between Google and private-equity firms are the latest indications of growing deal activity around Yahoo. … Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the China-based Internet company in which Yahoo owns a roughly 40% stake, recently said he was interested in buying Yahoo, but it was unclear whether he has made a serious move to do so. … Google has long been the No. 1 player in Web search. But in the display-ad market, Google is a smaller – but growing – competitor. In the U.S., Facebook is expected to generate more than $2 billion in net revenue from display advertising this year, with Yahoo generating $1.6 billion and Google generating $1.1 billion, according to research firm eMarketer Inc.”
Guardian: “Google is already under regulatory scrutiny from governments around the world. … [A] Google bid would trigger regulatory interest. The US government threatened to challenge an earlier proposal by Google to place ads on Yahoo’s site, causing Google to abandon the effort in 2008. At the time Microsoft was making a $44.8bn bid for Yahoo which ultimately proved fruitless.”
TNW: “With Yahoo seemingly unable to find a solid place in today’s online landscape, a sell-off makes plenty of sense, although if Google were to be involved it would undoubtedly face close scrutiny from antitrust authorities – the FTC is already investigating the search giant in the US.”