Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Yahoo!7 to launch Vertical Ad Network

So Yahoo!7 is getting into the vertical network game locally ... partnering with a company called Digital Niche to create "largest and most sought after publisher network".

Well - that is the plan - long term - from Markus Barnikel, Yahoo! Strategic Partnerships head.

"Yahoo!7 is committed to building Australia’s largest and most sought after publisher network, and we’re creating a unique form for advertisers to connect with their consumers, through delivery of premium inventory with diverse publisher categories."

The network isn't a blind buy - clients will be able to pick and choose which sites they want to appear on. This currently happens with the Google network and numerous other suppliers.

This is a sensible move for Yahoo! They have been doing this in the US and its logical they'd want to compete with Google locally as they have had this offering in market for the past 8 months. Plus networks like SellMedia, MediaSmart and Response Directive and built up strong vertical offerings which would appeal to clients looking for specialist areas.

How will it go? Who knows ... it really depends on the alliances they can forge ... which all depends on the deals they can cut with the sites that they need ... or if they can offer better yield for the site owners than their competitors. One would assume being late to get in on the game won't help them ... but as stated above, the jury is out until the strength of the network is shown.

Digital Niche - http://www.digitalniche.com.au/

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