Overture Services has signed a three-year deal with Gator

Scumware advertising whether you like it or not

[skibum]

Article [news.com.com]

The deal turns up the heat on a rivalry between Google and Overture--two of the dominant forces in one of the Web's hottest marketing sectors. In particular, it gives Overture access to visitors of its chief competitor and it helps the company broaden its own advertising search network onto a new platform.

hhhmmmmmmmmm.... I hope this comes back to bite OV in the a$$. With the possibility of losing MSN or YAHOO!, a sign of desparation? It makes AdWords a much more compelling value (at least from an ethical - and hopefully a business perspective), particularly if OV doesn't offer the ability to opt-out of this new "feature'.

OTOH, sometimes the "numbers" with Gator do show good results. Just makes me cringe though. :(

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Original story breaker from January: [webmasterworld.com...]

[jeremy goodrich]

there are SO many people I know that won't even touch Overture anymore, because once you factor in the time spent with their idiocy / declining bids, etc - and everything else, the ROI isn't there.

Now this - will make them a LOT less appealing, imho.

[buckworks]

I just went into Overture and stopped the auto-pay feature. I removed a bunch of terms and lowered the rest to the minimum. When the $$ run out I won't be in any hurry to fund it again.

Bleah.

[Shoestring]

I am shocked and amazed that Overture is getting into bed with the spyware/scumware clan at Gator.

I can't see staying with them. We've been there from almost the start, but no more. We dropped Findwhat and we'll drop them, too.

Google (Adwords) wins again.

Shame on you, Overture.

[Shoestring]

I think the recent hike in minimums hurt them more than they thought it would. We got a pitch last week for a ton of "suggested terms" from them. First time that has happened. Now, we spend decent cash with them and have for some time, but we're not exactly in the upper tier of outlay either. This is going to hurt them. We want no association with such scumware serving of our ads.

[1milehgh80210]

When I tried adv. w/overture, I found the lack of a pause feature, lack of max. spend feature, increasing min. bid and editorial?policy irritating.
Still would have stayed with them though, except they gave me (-) ROI.

[chiyo]

From where i sit, and im no expert on Gator, Gator serves up deceptive content that browsers/users dont ask for. If you search for something on certain sites, you get a pop up for comemrcial results from Gator right?

Their only "out" that this is not unsolicited commercial content or spam, is that those who have downloaded their software probably didnt read the small print and agreed to it when installing their software.

I'm now getting more concerned that Adwords is getting so many competitive advantages that there will soon be little competition for serious PPC. This will drive up Adwords costs for sure. OV is clearly under siege and their only way out is mergers and acquisitions - either them buying out their customers like search engines or other ad networks, or them being bought out themselves (by say Y!).

[edited by: chiyo at 4:00 am (utc) on April 5, 2003]

[daroz]

Just sent the news.com link to 5 of my clients.

One is staying put, 2 just sent e-mails to cancel, ($600/day combined) the last 2 are undecided but are e-mailing Overture to request their ads not be shown via Gator.

I'm finding myself more glad by the day I moved my spend to Google. (With only a minor change in ROI)

[gsx]

I have just done the same - requested that my ads are not shown on Gator. I am a UK account holder, so we may be able to establish if they are delivering UK adverts through IP delivery.

P.S. If any staff from Overture are reading this forum, maybe it's time you looked for new jobs. Gator, plus 100% increase in one month only means future problems.

[Receptional Andy]

>>triggers a pop-under window when a Gator customer searches on a site such as Google or Yahoo

Wonder if Google will take this lying down? And I target google separately so I don't want any more 'ads' to appear.

I have some reservations about the addition of Gator to Overture's partners. I would like to see much greater control over where overture listings are shown. I pay for ads to show up on major and reputable search engines. I do not particularly want anything to do with irritating, unethical and unproductive popup ads.

[edited by: tigger at 10:52 am (utc) on April 7, 2003]
[edit reason] requested by Receptional_Andy [/edit]

[makemetop]

Overture UK listings are not appearing via Gator currently - but Espotting's are - according to my referral logs!

[Receptional Andy]

>>Espotting

I nearly forgot about Espotting ;)
I think they have some questionable partnerships too.

There are two things I want more and more from the PPCs - transparency (where do the listings I pay for getting shown) and choice (as to whether I want them to be displayed at partner sites). Is this too much to expect from the major players?

[edited by: tigger at 9:48 am (utc) on April 7, 2003]
[edit reason] requested by Receptional_Andy [/edit]

[Shoestring]

Wonder if Google will take this lying down?

I'd think not. I think a lot of people are not going to take this lying down. Overture just may regret the day in the biggest of ways.

Reap what you sow...

[cindysunc]

[news.com.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]

Just curious what people think, especially GoogleGuy.

[quotations]

It has resulted in the fastest growing site on Alexa today, #1 Mover +89% ~

Weekly Traffic Rank: 146 (was 314)

Searchscout . com
http:// www. searchscout . com

[NotePad]

One more step toward the dark side for Overture.

[Shoestring]

I am shocked and amazed that Overture is getting into bed with the spyware/scumware clan at Gator.

I can't see staying with them. We've been there from almost the start, but no more. We dropped Findwhat and we'll drop them, too.

Google (Adwords) wins again.

Shame on you, Overture.

[edited by: Shoestring at 2:06 am (utc) on April 5, 2003]

[Edouard_H]

"What I like about it is that pop-unders are unobtrusive...."

Give me a break. If I were Google I'd post a highly visible internet information page and include education on spyware.

[korkus2000]

It seems that Overture does not understand that gator hurts their customer base. Pay for click and lose sales. What a lovely combination.

[Shoestring]

I think the recent hike in minimums hurt them more than they thought it would. We got a pitch last week for a ton of "suggested terms" from them. First time that has happened. Now, we spend decent cash with them and have for some time, but we're not exactly in the upper tier of outlay either. This is going to hurt them. We want no association with such scumware serving of our ads.

[GoogleGuy]

cindysunc, I'd be more curious how the webmasters who use Overture here feel about their ads being shown via Gator pop-up ads.

[NotePad]

i'd be dropping Overture like a bad habbit.

[Alec Doggone]

To answer your question, GG - there's no way in hell I'll be refunding my Overture balance now when it empties.

[quotations]

Let's see if I understand how this works.

Gator hijacks your ad content and instead serves a popup to your visitors. Now you get to pay Overture if someone clicks on your ad and then ... If they end up at one of your sites, Gator hijacks the links there and serves their add to them?

What are you paying Overture for ... to generate even more revenue for Gator using your site and traffic?

[jomaxx]

Have Overture lost their minds? Why are they associating themselves with one of the most hated and parasitic companies on the Web?

[Edouard_H]

Had I not already cut and run from Overture in cases where I make the decision, this would have cinched it.

[tedster]

My hope is that Overture will make Gator coverage optional and not automatic. I have one client in particular who would NEVER want their offering displayed through this kind of vehicle, not even for one single day.

Campaign stopped!

[mrguy]

Yup!

I dropped Overture like a bad habit many months ago and instead increased my spending on Adwords.

Sure glad I did!

I personally hate scumware and think most people do as well.

[GoogleGuy]

I'll be curious to see how webmasters react as word of the Overture-Gator partnership starts to get around..

[awlane]

I am sure webmasters/advertisers will have a choice. Like I can choose on AdWords if I want to have my ads shown on syndicated sites or content sites, Overture must give people that option, otherwise they are shooting themselves in the foot. I am heading over to the Oveture forum as we are slightly OT for this forum.
[webmasterworld.com...]