Microsoft Scores Journal Ad Deal
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News Brief. Google should start looking over its shoulder. Wall Street Journal Digital Network is only the beginning. |
Today, Microsoft announced that it had reached an exclusive contextual and paid search advertising deal for Wall Street Journal Digital Network sites, including AllThingsD, Barrons, MarketWatch and Wall Street Journal.
While seemingly just another ad and search deal, it's the first sign that the winds are changing in the direction of Redmond, Wash. Microsoft's press release quotes Brian McAndrews, former aQuantive CEO and now senior vice president of Microsoft Advertiser and Publisher Solutions. Microsoft paid $6 billion for aQuantive for a reason.
As I've repeatedly said, Microsoft is rapidly coalescing into three vertical organizational silos—platforms, search and advertising, and consumer electronics. McAndrews runs the ad operation.
Google is not an unstoppable force in advertising and search. Microsoft now has much of the infrastructure in place to really compete with Google. The timing is interesting. Yahoo's future direction is suddenly uncertain, and the U.S. economy teeters on the brink of recession. Yahoo's troubles create an opportunity for Microsoft to snatch search and advertising share and even customers from Yahoo, strengthening its competitive position against Google.
The state of the economy is a harbinger of uncertainty and opportunity. Advertising is one of the first areas of cutbacks during lean times. But newer tools give advertisers better precision regarding the ads and information about how to maximize campaign effectiveness. I predict that a battle of analytics is soon coming, with Google and Microsoft at the skirmish front lines.
Even if ad spending declines somewhere, the 2008 Olympics and U.S. elections will generate big advertising revenues. Meanwhile, the Hollywood writer's strike, which has ended early the season for most U.S. TV shows, will likely hurt ad spending. Google's biggest ad competitor isn't Microsoft or Yahoo but television. TV's misfortune will likely lead to gains for other ad channels. Microsoft is mostly prepared, but so is Google.
By the way, I'm a fan of AllThingsD. I can't wait to see what contextual search ads appear around Walt Mossberg's iPod reviews. Hey, is that Zune Originals?
Related Posts:
- The Google Monopoly Begins, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 20, 2007
- Ballmer: Advertising Is the Future, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 13, 2007
- A Little More Blush: Microsoft's Makeover, Microsoft Watch, Oct. 1, 2007
- One Redmond Way | Razorfish, Microsoft Watch, May 21, 2007
- Why Microsoft Wrote aQuantive a Big Check, Microsoft Watch, May 8, 2007
Comments (3)
MS business practices has been built on one trick, its monopoly of Windows operating systems. Once that card is pulled out, and MS cannot tie everything into the monopoly OS, its house of cards will fall. So all that intregation with Live, is going fail in the EU Joe.
Think standards and fair competition/interoperability, as being what MS will be dragged into doing by the EU. Because, some of the means with which you talk about MS getting ahead, are probably not ethical. There needs to be less lockin to MS products in it Operating Systems and software, not more.
Posted by chips | January 29, 2008 5:46 PM
u puncuated Yahoo wrongly, its "Yahoo!" ;)
Posted by puppet | January 29, 2008 9:08 PM
more trolling chips. loser. worse yet, an ignorant loser.
Posted by kd@kil.com | January 29, 2008 10:30 PM