Details on MSN's adCenter Paid Search Ads
Yesterday, Threadwatch member cornwall reported on the upcoming paid search program from MSN Search called adCenter.
Since then, we've started seeing reports all over the web and i'd like to start putting some of those links together in one place.
First up is Danny Sullivan with a SearchDay article on MSN adCenter where reporting the small amount of facts know to us, he also mentions the impact on Yahoo and Google:
Advertisers are not going to flock to MSN and abandon the other two, because the only way on the sizeable networks the other two operate is to stay with them. They have non-duplicated pages views.Instead, MSN is going to be the new third program most everyone will likely feel it's essential to enroll in. That was certainly the case when I asked a room of about 400 people at SES New York earlier this month what they'd do if MSN launched its own program, as was rumored during the show to be coming. Virtually everyone said they'd sign up. And virtually everyone said they'd stay with the other two, as well.
Charlene Li also posted thoughts on adCenter and screenshots you see here. Having managed to get a preview of the new program she said...
A key component of the service is the ability to look at audience profiles for specific keywords. In the first screenshot, you can see gender, age group, and lifestyle segment for the keyword “bmw”. This allows an advertiser to target their ad more finely to that audience. It does NOT mean that advertisers will be able to target their ads only to men between the ages of 26-40 – that type of functionality is still far, far in the distance.Reporting is also pretty robust. In the second screenshot, you can see the audience profile for people who clicked on all of the keywords in a specific campaign.
You can find MSN's adCenter homepage here
Danny is clearly right about the effect on Google and Yahoo not being drastic, and i'd imagine that for certain types of products adCenter is going to be more than viable. While we're waiting for more news and information, tell us what you think the implications are and please add any links to more news in the comments, thanks...
Mainstream Media
The mainstream media is reporting the MSN PPC program as if it were the "Google killer".
My own PPC campaigns and that of my customers is based on ROI - this will not affect my Google or Overture spend at all. If I can make a conversions for every $x I spend, and I have sufficient capacity / product to serve additional X customers I will simply expand my budget to include a campaign with MSN as well.
Google Killer
I think this *will* hurt Google - Adwords/Adsense is their only revenue source and the thing giving them their high share price, anything that takes the shine off this one income stream could give them a whole load of hurt!
AdCenter
From MSN's site.
http://advertising.msn.com/searchadv/default.asp
Got it
THanks layover, updated the post...
ROI / Conversions, etc..
As far as conversions go, I did hear from a few people that spoke at SES in NYC a few weeks back, that for organic listings, they found MSN was better at converting than both Yahoo! & Google. I also heard the demographic for MSN is very different than both Yahoo! and Google. Most MSN users are women.
MSN Network Demographics
http://advertising.msn.com/home/audienceprofile.asp
MSN Network Demographics
All channels are combined
#Gender
47.0% are men
53.0% are women
#Age
30.3% are 18-34
69.4% are 25-54
20.3% are 55+
#Household Income
62.4% are $50K+
38.2% are $75K+
#Education and Occupation
52.5% have graduated college or higher
29.6% are professional/managerial
#Marital Status
66.0% are married
42.8% have children
#Online Usage
90.6% have been on the Web longer that 3 years
#Online Shopping
92.8% have shopped online in the past 6 months
82.0% have purchased online in the past 6 months
Looks like lost of married women with money to spend:)
just one small problem with that lot
= > 100%
plus I don't believe the msn demographic is exclusively in that income range.
The rest of it looks pretty much good though :)
More AdCenter...
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=28254
Investors
The financial fellas like it too...
NYT story also..
Gary Stein
Is at the MSN Ad Summit and says:
Keep me posted
I clicked the "Keep me posted" button and I noticed right away the difference with the up coming Yahoo Publisher Network. Microsoft wants me to fill in a whole survey before they even consider keeping me posted about their new ad product. Yahoo, I admit, gave a strange pop-up after filling in my e-mail address , but after that it took me only 3 mandatory fields to finish the form. I guess I will read Threadwatch to keep me posted.
Privacy?
Seems funny to me a marketeer worried about divulging personal info when we use so much of it to do our jobs :O)
This is good for advertising agencies
They key point is that there are now 3 non-duplicated networks. So it will require that you participate and monitor all 3 programs. This is where the advertising agencies will come to rescue for a small % of your ad budget.
Roll Out Date
I was told by my MSN Ad Rep - for Featured Listings - who call me from Seattle - that they were looking for a Q4 launch. Given it is being beta tested now in France and Singapore... let's make that start Q4 or even Q3.
Remember MSN is not known for waiting... they run it out and get the clients to help find the bugs!!!
I for one
Can't wait :O)
Hope they have a great API and adsense beater too..
Demographic search
The fact that they are going to have demographics like age and gender is phenomenal.... catering to the agencies but also using all aggregated info they have is smart.