All of Microsoft’s online properties will carry paid search traffic delivered by adCenter, which has been in testing in France and Singapore, and is now setting its sights directly on the United States.
MSN AdCenter Set To Take The US By Storm
So much for the silly theory that Microsoft needed more time with Yahoo and its Overture advertising before launching Microsoft adCenter in the United States.
Remember all those earlier stories referring to the service as MSN adCenter? Forget you saw those references. It’s Microsoft adCenter now. The name has changed, but the service remains the same.
Even if Microsoft still hasn’t changed the name of the service on the MSN Advertising site. Which they haven’t as of press time, anyway. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will formally announce the change at the second day of the seventh annual MSN Strategic Account Summit.
More information came from a statement provided by the company:
Ballmer will emphasize the importance to advertisers of accessing powerful tools and audience intelligence in an easy-to-use, accessible way, and that Microsoft’s network of online sites and services will deliver to advertisers a range of audiences with very different demographics that advertisers will be able to reach in one consistent way. Contextual advertising testing begins on MSN in the U.S. market this summer. In addition, the following Microsoft properties are preparing to launch ads in the near future: Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Spaces, Windows Live Safety Center, Windows Live for Mobile, Office Live and Office Online, and the Xbox Web site Xbox.com.
Microsoft should also announce the acquisition of DeepMetrix Corp, a privately held provider of Web analytics and business intelligence tools for online marketers and publishers.
DeepMetrix operates the LiveSTATS.biz analytics service. With future releases of Microsoft adCenter, Microsoft expects to deliver new analytics applications as they expand upon the service. Like its competitors Yahoo and Google, Microsoft wants to deliver a one-stop experience for potential advertisers who wish to buy search, contextual, or display ads.
During today’s conference, Ballmer is expected to discuss more of adCenter’s potential beyond the realm of paid search. He and Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft senior vice president and chief advertising strategist, should touch on expanded advertising opportunities today as they outline their vision for adCenter and how it will work with other Microsoft properties.
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David Utter is a staff writer for webproworld covering technology and business.