Report:Yahoo's Panama Ad Program Benefits Larger Clients

[engine]

Yahoo! Inc.'s new Project Panama advertising program is benefiting its biggest clients by displaying their links more prominently and charging them less for each ad click, according to a report.

Customers with recognizable brands paid 57 cents each time a user clicked on their Yahoo link in the past month, compared with 75 cents in the fourth quarter, Jordan Rohan, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in the report. The popularity of the brands also ensured them better ad placement, he said. Rohan cited data from SearchIgnite, a maker of software that manages ad campaigns.

Report:Yahoo's Panama Ad Program Benefits Larger Clients [bloomberg.com]

[fearlessrick]

Gee, why am I not surprised?

[bwnbwn]

This may be true but on the other hand I am paying more now than before. Our yahoo expendures has doubled since the upgrade.

[caine]

Sounds like it will be a nightmare for the smaller clients whom compete in bigger spaces. I can't see how they will sell that to anyone other than larger clients. If i thought that they would sell the same ad to me as mister small at a dearer cost than to mister large then bollox to them. I would spend my PPC money building sites and spamming there SERPs.

[jimbeetle]

Sounds like it's basically because CTR is now factored in, not just the bid. Folks are more likely to click "Big Brand Widgets" rather than "no name widgets". Better CTR equals lower CPC needed to keep ad near the top.

[inbound]

No news here, it's the way Google AdWords used to work (prior to QSBS).

Replace "Benefits Larger Clients" with "Benefits Better Performing Adverts" and you may be closer to the truth.

[justablink]

I suspected this was happening. I have one large client with a brand, and another smaller client within the same vertical, and the CPC is trending lower for the branded client. They do not compete head to head on keywords, as I don't accept clients in the exact same space.
The small client CPC is roughly 15% higher than the branded client. The branded client CPC costs have trended downward by 11% compared to November and December CPC.
For my smaller client, we put more focus on the ad quality, CTR, and landing page. By improving these items the last two weeks, the smaller client is competing better with the big boys.
justablink

[jimbeetle]

Replace "Benefits Larger Clients" with "Benefits Better Performing Adverts" and you may be closer to the truth.

Yeah, but then there's no news story.