The possible takeover of Yahoo! by Microsoft could have some interesting on the online advertising business. And CNet addresses this in a recent article.CNET says:
Ad firms have a big influence on the future of Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and News Corp. by deciding on behalf of clients how much of their budgets to spend with each company, if at all. While the players are important, advertisers don’t really seem to care which teams are aligned, as long as they can provide the audience, the ad space, and the return on investment for clients.Further:
Much of the drama revolves around the coveted search marketing business, which Google dominates. Microsoft obviously wants to absorb Yahoo to mount a more formidable challenge to Google in search engine advertising, as well as take a larger share of the search budgets of advertisers. That’s a good thing, advertisers say, because a united Yahoo-Microsoft could help make pricing more competitive.But it remains unclear to companies that advertise with Google whether a Yahoo-Microsoft combination would change their spending. One ad executive at a major agency, who asked to remain anonymous, said a Yahoo-Microsoft alliance wouldn’t take away from how much money he spends with Google, nor potentially how little he spends with Yahoo or MSN.While the article chiefly looks at how the possible takeover will affect online advertising budgets, it is an interesting read.To read the full article, see www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9917050-7.html.