IHT Technology
Original Article By Saul Hansell
The New York Times
Dave’s Comments (Digital Marketing Tutorial Blog): The long-awaited arrival of MSN’s inhouse self-serve pay-per-click ad program (“adCenter”) is upon us, according to a story in the New York Times via the International Herald Tribune. MSN’s twist is the inclusion of demographic ad serving selection criteria (gender, age, location) based on (presumably) sign-up info provided by MSN members. Privacy advocates will be on high alert (as will PPC advertisers!) as this new service rolls out in the US sometime in October.
“Microsoft will unveil on Monday its own system for selling Web advertising as it struggles to compete with Google and Yahoo in the expanding Web search business. The system, to be used by MSN, is meant to improve on those of Microsoft’s rivals by allowing marketers to aim ads on Web search pages to users based on their sex, age or location.
The move is part of Microsoft’s broad response to the threat from Google, which is using its powerful advertising sales network to support an expanding range of free software products and Internet services. Last week, Microsoft announced a broad reorganization that placed MSN in the same group as its Windows operating system, indicating that it saw software delivered over the Internet – and possibly paid for through advertising – as central to its future.”
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