MSN has just reveiled its new search advertising service and hopes to hook advertisers with extra tools that will help them select which keywords work best at luring target customers. For example, the list of available keywords for a certain product will show which ones work better with men or women and specific age groups and income levels. Advertisers will be able to purchase keywords for use only at certain times of the day or on weekends in order to target a specific group (=demographic targeting). After an ad campaign has ended, MSN will provide customers data on the types of people who clicked on ads.
The service will put MSN in competition for ad dollars with similar products from No. 1 US search engine Google Inc and No. 2 Yahoo! Inc. Based on the list of features and just generally speaking the MSN AdCenter could be a very valuable alternative for marketeers.
MSN AdCenter will begin testing in two markets – France and Singapore. Microsoft is vague about when the test will begin, saying only that it will be within the next six months.
Search engine marketing will generate €1.4 billion of spending in Europe this year, according to a report on DMAsia.com. The UK has Europe’s largest online advertising market – expected to generate more than €1 billion by 2010.