Jensense breaks the news that Microsoft’s competitor to Adsense and YPN will be known as ContentAds, and will be released at least in a beta form in 2006.
First, let me say that name isn’t going to get any points for originality, but at least it describes what it is. Second, I’m glad Microsoft will have a competitor. I’m very much for competition in the advertising world for many reasons, so having three or more viable contextual text options will be great for publishers.
The question is if Microsoft will be able to build enough advertisers through AdCenter to supply ContentAds with enough advertiser base to have relevant contextual ads that pay out well. YPN has had trouble because they haven’t had enough advertisers to really provide relevant ads, so it often seems to default to mortgage, VOIP, and other common ads.
It’s going to be fun to watch, and fun for publishers to participate in. If only there was a solution to run all three networks and predict which one would pay the most on every impression.