MSN adCenter - Is It Worth The Hype?

The introduction of MSN adCenter, Microsoft’s online ad platform, may just be the answer to Google’s supremacy in the online advertising arena worldwide. Similar to Google Adwords, at the heart of MSN adCenter is a paid-search service that has been piloted in the US, France and Singapore before a global rollout next year.

Where Microsoft may triumph is that the new MSN paid-search service will aim to give advertisers more in-depth knowledge of their audience than Google and Yahoo! currently provide. Not only will MSN adCenter include geographic location, gender and age group targeting but also lifestyle segment and time of day targeting. These demographic targeting facilities are the one distinct advantage MSN adCenter may have over its rivals. Consequently, as a result, advertisers should be able to plan more strategically and achieve higher conversion rates.

Furthermore, MSN adCenter will enable advertisers to manage all their online campaigns, from display ads to search listings, in one place. Essentially, Microsoft adCenter is designed as a one-stop-shop experience, whether buying search, contextual or display ads across a number of Microsoft properties.

The pricing & billing structure is also very similar to Google Adwords and Yahoo! Search Marketing. You set a budget and there is no minimum spending requirement (however, there is a $5 initial set-up fee). The minimum keyword bid price is only $.05, in comparison to $0.10 on Google and Yahoo!, and they bill according to a “billing threshold”. In effect, rather than charge every time someone clicks on your ad, Microsoft will wait until you have accumulated a certain amount before charging you. Initially, that threshold is $50. Over time, as Microsoft receives payments successfully from you, this billing threshold will increase.

As the paid search advertising market continues to evolve, the emergence of MSN adCenter will provide a new challenge to Google’s dominance in the market. Whether its introduction will change the paid search landscape dramatically only time will tell, but we applaud the emergence of a new PPC network with quality traffic as it gives us marketers an opportunity to reduce those escalating bid prices.