Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has launched a new mobile ad product that combines mobile search and display. Called “Microsoft Mobile Marketplaces,” it should not be confused with Microsoft’s “Windows Marketplace for Mobile,” which is its new app store on Windows phones.
While the ad unit does seem to hold some promise, the development hints at how far behind Microsoft is in mobile advertising. While Google (NSDQ: GOOG) moves on to advertising banners and applications with its purchase of AdMob, Microsoft is still meddling around in mobile search. According to a Microsoft blog post from Monday, it works like this: Microsoft places a banner ad on one of its web properties, like MSN or Hotmail. It says something like “Hot Ringtones,” or “Last Minute Holiday Deals.” When a user clicks, they are re-directed to a landing page that contains a list of sponsored links from Bing for Mobile that are based on the specific theme or keywords associated with the banner.
Jamie Wells, Microsoft’s director for global trade marketing for mobile media, writes that the ad unit was launched earlier this month to a select group of advertisers and so far the experiment has been limited to Ringtones and holiday shopping. Also in the works, however, are Marketplaces for Mobile Games and Wallpapers. Advertisers can participate by setting up a typical Bing for Mobile ad campaign and can bid on just one keyword. Indeed, the early results are promising: Wells said average click-through rates are currently running in excess of 20 percent, which is more than five times what Microsoft normally sees for a mobile search campaign, he said.
Separately, MediaPost reports that so far Microsoft has only gotten interest from a handful of advertisers, so the sponsored search results have not exceeded a single page. But as the program expands, Wells told MediaPost that Microsoft will have to decide whether to extend sponsored links beyond one page or display only the highest-ranking results.
He said the holiday shopping-themed marketplace, offering a wider variety of products, is set to launch in a matter of days. When visiting MSN.com today on the phone, there was an ad that looked like the Bing search box with the terms “buy Xbox 360.” When you clicked on it, there was four results, selling things like the core system, or the special edition Halo 3 version of the console. When you click through, it goes to yet another landing page with an extensive amount of information on the product. A user can click on the $331 price to buy the product from Buy.com.
