Microsoft Testing Self Serve Publisher Advertising Product

Microsoft is doing good jobs in the time of 2008. They testing a new pilot program that will let third party publishers add Microsoft’s contextual ads next to their content in a self-serve format. Good job Microsoft!!

Google dominates this space (and all other contextual advertising) because it offers publishers far higher fees for ads. Yahoo and Microsoft have made up for that shortfall by offering guarantees in the past. Or in the case of Yahoo, by offering more flexible products like allowing their ads to be shown next to third party search results.

The new program will begin on July 21. No word on how Microsoft will get more money to these sites than what is offered by Google today but they are not requiring exclusivity: “You may also use Microsoft ads on the same sites and pages as Google ads as long as you do not have a specific exclusivity agreement with them.”

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson says this trial has actually been underway since earlier this year with a small group of publishers, but won’t say when or if this will officially roll out publicly.