More On Content Ads by Microsoft
Microsoft opens their Beta program, Content Ads to US customers, who want to advertise on MSN channels, August 29th. Previously, this was limited only to small, select advertisers and MSN Sales. The ads are to be shown on select MSN channels, such as Money, MSN, Windows Marketplace, and Real Estate. In the future, with the expected expansion of Content Ads, the exposure of ads will be furthered as they are placed on more Microsoft channels and "premium partner sites". The expansion move is viewed to be helpful in an overall increase in success of the ads.
This beta Content Ad program provides generated ads in a contextual manner. Contextuals ads are a form of advertising whereupon when a person visits a website, the ads displayed will reflect relevant content to the site itself. Simply speaking, they display ads based on the best match of certain keywords a page contains. This is a great improvement over the exceedingly limited scope of content previously seen with content ads. With this expansion of allowing all US advertisers to utilize the beta Content Ads program, the content scope of ads on MSN networks is expected to increase greatly. Ad campaigns, once the beta program is fully activated, will be immediately seen, and automatically added to the other Microsoft channels, and the "premium partner sites". Theoretically, the boost in ad campaign success should be readily made apparent.
The beta program gives advertisers a choice between advertising thru either keyword-level pricing, or separate content and search bidding. While both are keyword-based, the differences can have quite an impact on an advertising campaign. Keyword-level pricing that allows advertisers an option to pay differing amounts for different keywords is a top choice for many. Content and search bidding which works by letting the advertiser choose to place advertisements upon search pages, content pages, or both, can be considered far more effective by some companies. The great thing is that now, where they had no choice before, the possibilities, while not limitless are certainly expanding at a pleasant rate..
Microsoft and Google who have been recently going toe-to-toe in the marketplace, seem to be coming into more fierce competition. In light of Google's Ad-Sense success, Microsoft is hopeful their going full access with the beta Content Ads program will have a direct impact, allowing them to nudge into Google's portion of the success, as well as impacting Google's revenue. While some are still skeptic, the opportunities this could produce still remain. The public stands to benefit, as well, via the increased competition, which will cause the lowering of costs, via the competitive face of the battle, and we should also be seeing an increase in the effectiveness of various styles of advertising campaign programs. Overall, both consumer, and supplier-wise, the introduction of Content Ads will inevitable cause increases in the services offered, prices, and effectiveness of products. The long term effects upon the business of advertising online are still uknown, but all are hopeful that the positive directions being seen currently will continue. Judgement may still be out, but the jury is swaying towards a hopeful view of the implications of these actions both by Google and Microsoft.
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