Microsoft adCenter to Google, Yahoo, AOL: our ad-supported software services are better
Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer opened battle against Google, Yahoo and AOL, when he confirmed Microsoft’s objective last May to evolve from a “software company into the world’s largest, most attractive provider of online media through MSN, Windows Live and adCenter.”
Ballmer officially launched Microsoft adCenter in the U.S. at MSN’s annual “Strategic Account Summit,” May 3, while “celebrating” advertisers’ role in Microsoft’s media network vision:
Ad-supported software services are an integral part of Microsoft’s plans to give consumers access to a broader variety of digital media, whenever they want and on whatever device they prefer.
James Colborn, Microsoft Product Manager, is charged with helping Microsoft become the “world’s largest, most attractive provider of online media” and I spoke with him to discuss how Microsoft intends to overtake Google, Yahoo, AOL…
For Colborn, Microsoft is already a must-go-to search advertising destination for any advertiser seeking to reach all Internet searchers, citing search market share statistics reporting 11% of all Internet search queries are performed at MSN.
Microsoft, however, intends to grow that share, by besting Google, Yahoo and AOL. Microsoft is committed to taking market share from its competitors in search by improving the search user experience, and thereby gain a larger share of search queries, and by improving search advertiser ROI, and thereby gain a larger share of search advertising spend.
Microsoft adCenter is the “advertising engine” for Windows Live, MSN and other Microsoft online services. According to Microsoft, its ad Center is:
Helping advertisers strategically plan their online buys and is designed to help them gain a higher return on investment by utilizing real audience intelligence and advanced targeting capabilities.
At present, with its new user-centered search destination platform, "Windows Live Search" at live.com, still in beta, Microsoft’s key advertising “selling proposition” focuses on ad “quality” rather than on search query “quantity.” Microsoft hopes to build its advertiser base through what it calls “smart advertising,” and it hopes to build its search query volume through the differentiated live.com search experience.
Microsoft has embarked on a large-scale campaign to educate all search advertising constituencies on why Microsoft adCenter is a “one-stop-shop” for “smart advertising." According to Microsoft:
MSN Search Generates More Conversions. A recent study performed by Compete, Inc. shows MSN Search is converting searchers into customers at a higher rate than other major search engines. Across the retail, consumer electronics and travel categories, MSN Search is delivering substantial conversions—generating increased returns on advertising spend (ROAS).
According to Did-It Search Marketing March 2006 Conversion Rate Index, MSN Search surpassed AOL, Yahoo and Google for “the quality of the traffic based on the number of conversions by vertical per visitor coming from an individual search engine”:
MSN Search soared from its impressive #3 position to #1…marking its success as a high converting engine for paid search marketing.
Colborn’s work at Microsoft to evangelize MSN Search is apparently paying off. Microsoft adCenter client Home Décor Products, Inc. reports:
Based on the powerful audience intelligence delivered by Microsoft adCenter, HDPI can reach its target demographic more efficiently and position itself to experience a greater potential for increased conversion rates.