Yahoo is attempting to make a name for itself in the contextual ad network game. With the help of Microsoft and Media.net, the search engine wants to chip away at some of Google AdSense’s market share by offering a similar advertising product to both businesses and web publishers.
The Yahoo! Bing Network Contextual Ads program is an ad network that allows web publishers, including blogs, online publications, and similar sites, to set up a revenue stream from ad units on their site.
The platform is powered by Media.net and is made up of advertisers from the Yahoo and Microsoft Search Alliance, which has been around since 2009 and also covers search advertising.
Since Media.net already offered contextual advertising solutions to Web publishers prior this partnership, Yahoo and Bing don’t actually have to do anything in the way of powering the ad network. But for Media.net, the partnership allows them to reach more advertisers and customers with the tools it already has.
For Web publishers, this new partnership just means different options for contextual advertising. Both Media.net and the Yahoo and Microsoft Search Alliance have been around for years, but now that they’ve partnered up, publishers can expect a larger variety of ads available for better targeting. And those who didn’t already use Media.net just have another platform with a high volume of ads to consider.
For businesses interested in advertising, this means that Yahoo and Bing now offer more than just the text or search ads advertisers may be used to, and they can have their ads displayed on more than just search results pages. Like with AdSense, advertisers can set their own budget so the program can be feasible for businesses of all sizes.
And though Google is still the dominant player, advertising with Bing and Yahoo can mean reaching different consumers altogether.
This isn’t the first time Yahoo has tried its hand at a contextual ads network. The original program was nixed in 2010, but apparently Marissa Mayer thought it would be worth another try. The former Google employee could have some helpful insights to keep the program afloat.
This is a great move by the three partners. However, I think their main aim is to outsmart Google Adwords/Adsense
Seems to be an interesting competition. Let’s see how Bing and Yahoo fare at trying to beat Google.