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Microsoft Testing Advertising Across Live Windows, MSN Spaces, and Office Live

Microsoft Testing Advertising Across Live Windows, MSN Spaces, and Office Live

Was reading a bit of LiveSide this morning, which is becoming one of my favorite MSN oriented blogs, and how Microsoft is building what it calls the Internet’s largest advertising network which includes the channels of Office Live, Windows Live Mail, and MSN Spaces. Luckily, it seems that this “ad network” will be more about the overall global branding experience across multiple channels, and not about garnishing individual clicks via mutiple mass ad network partners.

From LiveSide : “20 top brands, including Coca-Cola Brazil, JC Penney, and Monster Worldwide, will begin testing multiple ad formats on Windows Live Mail in various markets across the world, on MSN Spaces in Australia and Italy, and on Office Live in the United States to determine the “best return on investment for marketers, while adding value to the customer experience”.”

The results of the multiple ad formats being tested will help determine which ad offerings provide the best return on investment for marketers while adding value to the overall consumer experience.

With the mix of mail, blogs, and Office applications, the Windows Live advertising experiment hopefully will lead to a stronger branding sponsorship of the overall Live experience, as opposed to the horrid ads being served across Hotmail and MSN services of yesteryear.

Those with their eyes on the Contextual Advertising implications of MSN adCenter may also have their eyes on how MSN Spaces integrates display and contextual ads into their vast network. Possibly even more excited are the blog advertising companies like BlogAds, FM, and soon Performancing – especially with over 30 Million MSN Spaces blogs on the market (according to Duncan Riley).

So, will you be part of the experience? Dependent upon where you live Windows Live ads are being tested in :

* MSN Spaces in Australia and Italy
* Windows Live Mail display ads are being tested in various markets across the world including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
* Office Live display ads are initially being tested in the U.S.

Microsoft adds that the US Office Live display ads “immediately sold out of their available openings for beta advertisers. Tests will continue on these and other Microsoft sites and services throughout 2006, while additional research is underway with approximately 100 advertisers in nine markets to verify advertisers’ needs and best practice advertising solutions for Windows Live.”

“Advertising is a very important business model for Microsoft worldwide because an increasing number of advertisers are becoming more global,” said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president for Global Sales and Marketing at Microsoft. “With ad-supported software opportunities, we’re able to offer great services at low or no cost for our consumers and a vast ecosystem for advertisers.”

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SEJ STAFF Loren Baker Founder at Foundation Digital

Loren Baker is the Founder of SEJ, an Advisor at Alpha Brand Media and runs Foundation Digital, a digital marketing ...

Microsoft Testing Advertising Across Live Windows, MSN Spaces, and Office Live

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