First, Google purchased DoubleClick, next it was Microsoft that bought aQuantive and now it’s Yahoo’s time to get its own online advertising company.
Yahoo has just acquired BlueLithium, the #6 ad network in the US, for $300 million, far from $3.1 billion Google paid for DoubleClick and just 5% of the amount of money Microsoft spent on aQuantive.
Microsoft’s top technical executive, Ray Ozzie, has recently said that Google success in finding in advertising revenue “was a wake-up call within Microsoft”. But he said Microsoft plans to do more than simply mimic Google by rolling out Web-based versions of desktop programs or following its particular search and advertising model.
Instead of jumping belatedly into the fray with Web-only programs, he said Microsoft will pursue a mix of software loaded on PCs and Internet services that also work with the growing array of mobile devices, a strategy he called ‘’software-plus-service'’.
He said he sees free, Web-based, ad-supported software as a way to extend Microsoft Office’s reach, but gave no specifics. ‘’Advertisers do want a targeted audience,'’ he said. If Microsoft can deliver it, ‘’I don’t see a reason why advertisers won’t move'’. What comes next? Only time will tell.
Google is going to transform its Google Video service, in which users upload video content to be shared, into a Google Video Search service, a search engine to look for video content no matter where it may be hosted.
A logical step considering Google’s world-famous mission which is to organize the world’s information. Even more, after YouTube’s acquisition, Google has had two compiting products on the market and finally it’s time to fully integrate YouTube into Google’s product portfolio.
Additionally, according to Financial Times, Google is planning to share advertising revenues on YouTube with the users who upload the clips. Good news for top YouTubers and one more incentive for those users producing quality videos. Could it be the first step in building a real Google TV? What comes next? Only time will tell.