14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo will unveil a new self-serve display ad system attempting to win over local and search advertisers. The new product, called My Display Ads, is targeted at small and mid-size businesses wanting to promote their products locally, which don't have a big advertising budget and search advertisers wanting to move from simple, text-based ads.
The company is by no means alone in the self-serving ad business, with big players like Google, MySpace and Facebook already using similar systems, though, at least in Facebook's case, these ads may have been the cause of some problems. Yahoo, however, has some premium ad space real-estate, so the company is capable of becoming a major player in the market, attracting local advertisers or small businesses that may not have tried online advertising at all.
To help customers make their own display ads, Yahoo has enlisted the help of AdReady, a Seattle-based start-up that offers simple tools for the creation of ads. The tools offer over 800 ad templates already created, but allow users to have their own custom ads. The ads are available as either a cost-per-click auction system or as cost-per-thousand impressions, and will be displayed across Yahoo's own properties, as well as on those of affiliates.
Local markets are being increasingly targeted by ad providers, as many traditional, big advertising spenders, like the automotive sector, are disappearing. But Yahoo is also targeting search advertisers with its new product, hoping some might find display ads more appealing than traditional, text-based search ads.
While the Internet advertising market is still rising, it has seen a big decline in growth in the last year, and the companies interested are looking for new revenue sources, like Yahoo, with this new ad product, but also Google, which has just introduced Product Ads.