The Microsoft adCenter Code Blog

Cracking the MSN Adcenter Code

MSN adCenter Now Showing Ads at 70% Rate

Filed under: MSN adCenter — jack at 5:25 pm on Saturday, March 25, 2006

As of March 23 MSN has now reduced adCenters showing of Yahoo/Overture ads to only 30%. Currently MSN has until June when there contract with Yahoo runs out when they will have to be at `100% showing their own ads. So they have now moved to a 70/30 ratio which indicates they are on track to gettting their advertiser inventory full enough by the June deadline.

There are several impacts of note here.

1. If your currently in the adCenter Beta program this is good news because you now are going to be given more impressions.

2. If you are a Yahoo advertiser your traffic from that source may be going down if you are not off setting it as MSN continues to reduce their showing of Yahoo ads.

3. This is a good sign that we are getting closer to a MSN publisher program.

~ Jack Spirko

MSN adCenter / Microsoft Launch New Advertising Initiative

Filed under: MSN adCenter — jack at 2:16 pm on Friday, March 17, 2006

Microsoft is currently launching an new online ad program on their Live services and on MSN. Microsoft reports they will use the revenue from this new program to fund new online efforts and to take ad market share from Google and Yahoo. The advertisements will run on the Office Live Web hosting/development platform, the Live Mail e-mail service, and the MSN Spaces community site.

Acording to Microsoft initial testing of Windows Live ads is being done in Australia and Italy, while Windows Live Mail ads are being tested in markets around the world, including in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the U.S.

The Office Live ads are being tested only in the U.S. for now. Microsoft reported that this service sold out of space very soon after its launch. Tests will continue throughout 2006, Microsoft said, with research conducted among some 100 advertisers in nine markets to identify advertisers’ needs more effectively.

Microsoft said it will continue to invest heavily in MSN.com as well as test advertising opportunities on the Xbox Live service, on mobile devices, and on other company properties.If you are wondering why you did not get an invatition to advertise on this new platform, rest assured you budget probally is what disqualified you. Among those buying space under the current Beta Tests are Coca-Cola Brazil, JC Penney, and Monster Worldwide. So at least for now this adspace is reserved for the big boys of the Fortune 500 arena.

According to Microsoft, the objective of the new advertising model is to use the ad revenue to subsidize free and low-cost online services so perhaps there will be a benifit in this for the small business owner as well in time. Perhaps they could use it to fix the Help and Support Issues reported by Mark Barrera at MasterLink Search Engine Marketing.

~ Jack Spirko

Microsoft - MSN Search may soon be in the online video arena

Filed under: MSN adCenter — jack at 11:35 am on Tuesday, March 14, 2006

According to Personal Tech Pipeline  MSN Search and Microsoft will soon have a product to compete with Google Video (kind of makes you think about my last post about music and video being a next step doesn’t).    The report on Personal Tech mentions the following from an interview with LiveSide.net, Moz Hussain, a product planner for Microsoft’s blogging service MSN Spaces, hinted at a possible Live Video.

“Hussain said future integration of Windows Live services and Spaces would allow him to “aggregate things that I’m posting in different places, whether it’s a restaurant review, whether its photos from my holiday, whether its my favorite video clips and movies — all of those things I can aggregate and share with the world.”

This is an interesting development that I think is not yet fully understood.  Honestly I think MSN is doing all of these things to increase places to display their ads displays.

Currently if you go to Google Video you won’t see anything equivlent to a “sponsored link”, don’t expect the same from Microsoft.  I predict that MSN will be selling adspace on their video site with in 60 days of launch max (perhaps from day one) in one form or another.  It may be “sponsored video” or simple text ads but you can bet your bottom dollar they are not just doing it to be “like google”,
~ Jack Spirko

adCenter comming to an Xbox near you

Filed under: MSN adCenter — jack at 8:24 am on Monday, March 13, 2006
Well the big news in the PPC Search Engine war always seems to come from Google but never underestimate a billion dollar giant like Microsoft.  It seems that the Gates Crew have snapped to the reality that they have millions of Xbox players and will sometime in the near future be adding those using XBox Live to the audience their advertising is targeted at.  According to Reuters Business Channel with a report released on Sun Mar 12, 2006 4:34 PM ET.

“Microsoft envisions adCenter to one day be a one-stop shop for advertisers to gather information then buy ads on search results, Microsoft-related sites and services, non-Microsoft sites, mobile phone software or even online Xbox video games.

“We’re really starting to see Microsoft gear up. Of course, the company was asleep at the wheel for a long time,” said independent search engine analyst Chris Winfield.”

You can read the rest of the Reuters Report, “Microsoft takes on Yahoo, Google for Web ad dollars” at the Reuters Website.

This really drives home for me the fact that MSN has so many resources available to them and so much user data that they really could beat Google at their own game.  The issue seems to be that for about 4 years they have been asleep at the switch so to speak, reselling Overture Ads and relying on their news/media presence and some what captive browser audience to deliver their ad revenue.

As can be predicted the teen to twenty something crowd is currently upset about the prospect of ads on their online Xbox gaming.  However, I predict this won’t stop MSN from doing it, nor Xbox gamers from using it.  

One way or another it seems MSN is set on invading not just your PC but you video games and your mobile phones etc. 

What can we expect next?

Who knows but I am thinking we are going to see a leap into the multi media world of video and music by Microsoft.  Look for them to come up with an awesome music product with out the hassle of many of the companies now “playing ball” with the record companies.  They might even do it with a “third party company” (if you catch my drift), and as MP3, iPOD’s, etc become more advanced you can expect Microsoft to attempt to capture that market as well.

I think a lot of folks (especially Google and Yahoo) are underestimating MSN.  They have tremendous demographic data at their disposal, huge cash reserves and they are willing to push the envelope on legality to the edge then back up just enough to get out of trouble.  All of that ads up to the making of a new Giant in search, God knows the growth is going to be available to support more then three powerhouses.

Stay tuned for more,

~ Jack Spirko

Reminder - adCenter Open to the Public on Monday

Filed under: MSN adCenter — jack at 10:11 am on Sunday, March 5, 2006

For a three-hour window on 3-6-06, MSN adCenter will open up adCenter pilot testing to advertisers wishing to get an early start on their campaigns.

Enrollment begins at 9 a.m. Monday.

Advertisers who already have campaigns running on other search engines can use QuickLaunch to transfer campaign information faster.

The MSN adCenter website reports that earlier customer feedback resulted in a number of changes:

1. New campaign tab provides a snapshot of all the orders (ad groups in google terminology) you have under your campaign.

2. Apply targets for your ad in the campaign tab when you create a new order.

3. You can now research keywords in the same section of adCenter where you build your keyword list (to me this one was like well duh, glad to see MSN listens).

4. New percentage-based incremental bidding has been added so you don’t have to learn a new bidding method. (I think this is a big deal and while the concept may still be new the new method will now have more people using it)

5. Delete campaigns and orders, even those you have already submitted, to help you manage your account. (Why this had to be added I don’t know at least they did it)

6. City-based targeting now automatically associates a state or region with your selection. (I am going to have to play with this one to be able to comment on it fully)

I know I posted about this before but I wanted to remind everyone given we are less then 24 hours away from a very brief 3 hour window.

Despite some bugs and some road bumps adCenter is a great new source of targeted traffic with some real unique features, get in while you can or you may end up waiting until June for you chance to test drive the system,

~ Jack Spirko

MSN adCenter Talking about Contextual Ads (ContentAds)

Filed under: MSN adCenter — jack at 1:42 pm on Thursday, March 2, 2006

MSN’s has been quiet about contextual advertising, still an early project that is not even yet in beta. They will of course be competing with Yahoo Publisher and Google Adsense but to do so effectively they will first need to builder advertiser volume. I certainly feel that MSN can succeed in the contextual ad space, likely bringing new features to the market as it has done with its beta paid ad program, MSN adCenter.Search marketers and others voiced views on the program, reportedly called ContentAds, which is expected to roll out in beta form sometime this year.

I feel that MSN probally sees contextual advertising as a strategic investment for Microsoft one they will have to make to compete in the search arena. Much like the approach MSN took on the paid search side, they have been doing a lot of due diligence on the state of the [contextual] market they’re reaching out to both publishers and advertisers to see where the shortcomings in existing programs are.

But to gain revenue share versus Google, Yahoo and smaller ad networks including Miva, MSN will need to have a volume of advertisers, differentiate its program and possibly distribute ads across other Microsoft applications. (makes you wonder a bit more about Vista) One way or another contextual ads are becomming more and more important both for publishers and advertisers. I think we may be surprised at the speet that MSN eventualy rolls out.

My gut tells me they are futher along then most people think they are and that it is simply the inventory of advertisors that will be the biggest factor in the final launch date.

~ Jack Spirko

MSN Team Gives First Public Demo of MSN adCenter 3.0 presented to DFW SEM

Filed under: MSN adCenter — jack at 7:39 pm on Wednesday, March 1, 2006
On Tuesday night Feb, 20th MasterLink and other attendees of DFW SEM’s Monthly Meeting were treated to a presentation of MSN’s new Adcenter Version 3.0 (which of course is still in Beta and just released on Saturday which made this 3.0s first ever public showing by Microsoft) Quite a few members of the MSN staff came out to present the new PPC Option from MSN but the presentation was given by the two ladies in the picture to the left (Celena Kingson, Search Marketing Specialist on the left & Robyn Raybould, Search Marketing Analyst on the right) who flew in from in from New York just to meet with our group.

Overall Mark Barrera and I both felt that MSN adCenter is going to be a great new source of traffic. I have already gone on record stating that MSN seems to be getting the organic results right with my article (Is MSN Building a Better Mouse Trap), now it seems they may be on the way to a better PPC Mouse Trap as well.

Here is some of what we learned straight from the MSN folks about the new adCenter.

1. The new adCenter has dynamic parameter options beyond just dynamic keywords. Much like with Google Adwords you do dynamic keyword insertion. You can also however set up to three dynamic parameters that allow you additional control over your ad copy and even allow for dynamic destination URLs. Due to the fact that adCenter enables you to insert keywords into each creative, they are even more relevant to every search and when used properly should have a dramatic effect on CTR.

2. In addition to key word research that is similar to the adCenter system (shows terms based on a website or terms related to terms you provide) you can view extensive demographic data which is gathered primarily via Microsoft Passport users and includes things like, basic traffic trends, age and gender, geography, wealth index and lifestyle. This allows you once again to tailor ad copy and landing page messages to the most prominent demographic for your terms.

3. adCenter also offers a tool called incremental bidding allowing advertisers to bid a higher rate for specific groups. For instance if you wanted specifically target 26-35 year old males and felt that traffic from that demographic was worth more then your base bid you can add a incremental bid for that demographic. Say you were bidding 1 dollar max bid on a key word or group of words, you then could say 26-35 year old males are you most likely buyers so you could set an incremental bid of 20% for that group and when searched for by a user in that demographic your higher bid of 1.20 max would be applied automatically. This opens up a lot of options that we will have to research a lot further to fully exploit, however it takes targeting and spit testing to a new level.

4. MSN has also noticed what Google did right and Yahoo has done wrong when it comes to ranking ads. Unlike the wide open show all bids system of Yahoo MSN adCenter simply asks for your max bid and shows “estimated average position” for your terms. You can then write multiple ads per ad group (called orders in the adCenter system) and split test them. In doing so you can spit test and find the best CTR. Also much like adwords you are not ranked based solely on your bid but on a combination of your bid and CTR.

5. This next feature we feel is a huge benefit and it makes one wonder exactly what is wrong with the folks at Yahoo and Google and why they have not provided it long ago. This feature allows you to only display your ads on specific days of the week, specific times of day or a combination of each. For instance if one of your key word groups always converted best on weekdays during business hours you can set that group to only display during those times and there spend your monthly budget fully during the times that have proven to convert best for said group.

Overall our opinion is that Microsoft has gone out of the way to give marketers what we most want when it comes to targeting and budget optimization. That being more ways to control our budgets and maximize them by demographics, geography and time of day or week.

Two additional notes…

First, when questioned about a possible entry into the content advertising business (i.e. Adsense and Yahoo Publisher) Robyn and Celena declined to comment on a timeline and only stated that it was being discussed.

Second, When asked about analytics no time line was given but we were told that one of Bill Gates’ special research groups was currently working on a very powerful analytics system for use with adCenter. That was all the information we could get on that subject. Of course standard conversion tracking is available already.

We look forward to working with MSN and our local Account Executive Juan Garza as well as Robyn and Celena to learn to maximize adCenter. In any event 3.0 is a clear improvement over 2.0 and we are greatly looking forward to the next rev being even better.

Jack Spirko

Viewing MSN adCenter Ad’s with out Yahoo/Overture

Filed under: MSN adCenter — jack at 3:18 pm on Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Currently MSN is displaying both their own ads and ads from Yahoo (through an agreement that ends this summer. MSN had been showing 25% of their own ads and 75% of the Yahoo ads but just ramped up to 50% MSN and 50% Yahoo Overture (acorrding to Mark Barerra)

Of course many advertisers would like to actually view their ads and know their placement in the MSN system free of Yahoo interference.

If you would like to see MSN adCenter ads only they can be viewed at the MSN adCenter Search,

~ Jack Spirko

MSN adCenter to open to the public for only three hours

Filed under: MSN adCenter — jack at 2:45 pm on Wednesday, March 1, 2006

MSN AdCenter’s Beta Team announced today that there will be a brief open sign up period for new advertisers to get an AdCenter Beta account without waiting for an invitation or the larger release in scheduled for June. The open sign up period will last for just three hours beginning at 9am Pacific on Monday March 6.

So mark your calandars fast and make sure you get in during this window of opportunity or you may end up waiting until June to get your first look at the inner workings of adCenter.

~ Jack Spirko