Forum Moderators: goodroi
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Google Inc. has been chosen by News Corp's MySpace to provide search listings for the social-networking site in a four-year deal that will give Fox Web sites at least $900 million in payments, the companies said Monday.The agreement, announced after the market closed, also calls for Google to provide search-advertising services for the majority of Fox Interactive Media Web sites, which are owned by News Corp.
In winning the agreement, Google will replace Yahoo Inc. as the search provider now being used by MySpace, one of the Internet's most popular sites.
Google picked as MySpace partner [marketwatch.com]
[edited by: engine at 11:03 pm (utc) on Aug. 7, 2006]
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Now, is Google going to use Adwords on Myspace?
I think they will use some special mechanism there (the video ads someone mentioned, for example)
Also, the Adwords ads as they are now will never have a good result in a standard Myspace page, you need much more colour, flashiness, gizmos etc to be visible in a Myspace page...
I've watched myspace users and I doubt the demographic has much value in terms of click through or ROI, the users are very focused on their "task", not ads.
I guess I agree in a way. Myspace has captured the younger demographic very effectively. They are all very focused on clicking the pictures, posting their own, modeling, gossiping, etc. LOL
I have heard many many people say "I wish Myspace had better search". Those folks are not talking about regular internet searching. They are talking about a better intrasite search, where users can more easily locate their friends, family, etc, or search based on certain criteria. I get NO traffic from myspace despite being ranked highly in Yahoo for a few phrases, which currently provides their internet search results (via a "search the web" box).
I am sure there are still details that we aren't aware of yet. And, I think Google will rise to the occasion and make this work for them. If they make Myspace searchable using Google search technology, that might be where we see a lot of the most effective ads (users are in "search mode" and more aware of the ads).
Though it does seem to me that the ads will need to be extremely targeted (i.e., "Free Gossip About Your Friends" or "Become the Millionth Model Today") to really get the CTR up. And, As I said earlier, Myspace also needs to visit the issue of site design and server speed.
C
In the age of the viral Internet, a screen capture of an ad on a borderline pornographic or violent MySpace profile could be passed around as: XYZ-Company-Makes-Money-From-Porn-Violence
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I do think there is a huge opportunity for direct marketers, if they can find a way to tame the traffic and make it profitable. However, no one can deny it will be a challenge since a majority of MySpace users are teens.
In the age of the viral Internet, a screen capture of an ad on a borderline pornographic or violent MySpace profile could be passed around as: XYZ-Company-Makes-Money-From-Porn-Violence
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I do think there is a huge opportunity for direct marketers, if they can find a way to tame the traffic and make it profitable. However, no one can deny it will be a challenge since a majority of MySpace users are teens.
Even if the majority of the users are teens that still means that maybe there are, say, 15 million of of 40 million active members who are old enough to have credit cards. Is 15 million not enough for you?
Plus, I don't know what country you live in but here in the UK teens have money and are very active consumers. Maybe they have to ask a parent to order them stuff over the web but they are buying records, books, clothes, make-up, etc.
Exactly; the MySpace demographic could be very lucrative to the right advertisers for the right campaigns. No one can really believe that the movie studios and record labels that dominate ad space on MySpace now are mistaken in their belief that it's worthwhile for them.
Also important is that this deal doesn't involve only MySpace, but all of News Corp's web properties except Fox Sports, which has an existing deal with MSN (so far, but it'll be interesting to see what happens when that arrangement expires). A lot of different demographics will be covered.
Google revolutionised online advertising by not having banners/popups that shouted but unobtrusive text ads that were actually relevant to surfers. If they can do the same with MySpace then they are in the money, and us MySpace users get interesting ads.
Google revolutionised online advertising by not having banners/popups that shouted but unobtrusive text ads that were actually relevant to surfers.
True, but those ads started on Google's own SERPS, where the "user experience" was a consideration. Just as important:
- It was easy to offer keyword-targeted ads on those SERPs.
- It was difficult to get good results with "behavioral" ads that were aimed at a specific audience, since the Google audience was and is diverse.
When Google expanded its text ads to search partners and its content network, the same considerations applied.
With MySpace, the situation is different. MySpace presumably has all kinds of research information on its members, so audience-targeted (as opposed to keyword-targeted) advertising is far more practical and effective than it would be on the existing search and content networks. At the same time, keyword-targeted advertising is likely to be ineffective much if not most of the time, since most MySpace users aren't researching ways to spend their money.
In short, it would make perfect sense for Google to offer non-traditional (for Google) advertising on MySpace's content pages--though perhaps not on MySpace SERPs--and who's going to complain about Google if those ads aren't labeled with Google's name?
Google was picked because I am sure they offered the most money, nothing else.
I'd guess they offered the best total package. Which isn't to say they didn't offer the most money (they may well have done so), but if MySpace and Fox were looking to maximize profits and long-term potential, they wouldn't have simply hired an auctioneer and pointed at the guy who kept his hand up longest.
