Microsoft has launched its MSN adCenter, with its own paid search service "MSN Keywords" which also has a new demographically and date/time targeted search.

This will be a significant step forward for the paid listings industry, with the ads delivered to users of Microsoft services and matched to known demographic information. MSN had previously relied on Yahoo for its paid search but this 'trial' in France and Singapore could lead the way to a release in the USA next year.

There are still question marks over whether MSN will have enough of its own advertisers when it launches the service worldwide to meet income requirement. Initially users may be presented with a hybrid service of MSN and third party advertisers (possibly Yahoo). The new service will be a major strategic move for Microsoft in a marketplace still dominated by Google and its success will be watched closely by analysts worldwide.

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MSN Launches Paid-Search Service in France and Singapore
In-depth audience intelligence helps advertisers turn consumer clicks into connections.

NEW YORK - Sept. 26, 2005 - Today, Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of the MSN® Information Services & Merchant Platform division, opened the second annual Advertising Week 2005 in New York City by announcing the official launch of adCenter in France and Singapore. adCenter powers a paid-search service from MSN that provides advanced audience intelligence and targeting capabilities to help advertisers improve their return on investment when it comes to paid-search advertising.

The official launch of adCenter in France today and Singapore on Aug. 31 follows successful pilot programs in both countries. U.S. testing of adCenter is set to begin in October.

"adCenter is helping us apply more flexibility and control in our paid-search advertising campaigns because it gives us the tools to learn so much more about the kind of people who are searching on MSN," said Stuart Larkins, vice president of Search for Performics Inc., a division of DoubleClick Inc., which participated in the test.

Powerful campaign management tools and deep audience intelligence unique to MSN make it easy for advertisers to optimize and refine their campaigns to reach a specific audience. Some of those tools include the following:

• Keyword Selection allows advertisers to indicate whom they want to reach based on geographic location, gender, age range, time of day and day of week, and suggests keywords based on the desired audience.
• Site Analyzer assists advertisers by suggesting keywords based on the content of their Web site, rather than on another keyword.
• Audience Profiler provides advertisers with an expected profile of those customers who are most likely to search for specific keywords.
• Cost Estimator helps advertisers remain within their budget by estimating rank, traffic and cost per month per keyword.
• Campaign Optimization allows advertisers to respond quickly and decisively throughout the campaign to easily refine budget allocations and keywords, as well as apply targeting filters such as geographic, demographic and dayparting.
• Post Sales Audience Intelligence & Reporting provides advertisers with detailed reports on campaign performance and audiences reached including click-through rate, estimated position and spending levels.

"We're excited by the positive feedback we have received from advertisers thus far," Mehdi said. "The launch of adCenter in France and Singapore is a great first step to delivering on our global vision to connect advertisers to consumers in a much more meaningful way."

In the near future, adCenter will become a one-stop shop from which advertisers can manage all their MSN advertising campaigns, end to end, including display and direct ads. In addition, advertisers will be able to use advanced targeting tools and audience intelligence data to reach their desired audiences across the MSN network.

Advertisers interested in learning more or signing up for adCenter can go to http://advertising.msn.com.

About MSN
MSN attracts more than 420 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 41 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. The most useful and innovative online service today, MSN brings consumers everything they need from the Web to make the most of their time online. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com. MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx.

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