Microsoft's PubCenter Steps Up, Rivals Google AdSense

Last summer, Microsoft tossed Microsoft PubCenter to the wolves (beta testers) to see how it would do. Recently, some extremely positive feedback has surfaced.

The mega company’s advertising program, which was originally thought to be gearing up to be some serious competition for Google AdSense and Yahoo Publisher network, is currently being tested through ad network YieldBuild. Interestingly, the network reports that the program will work better alongside its competition rather than in place of it.

If You Can Beat Them, Join Them Anyway?

According to YieldBuild, their beta testers have seen improvements of over 100% in cost per thousand (CPM) page impression rates for clients with PubCenter ads. However, Paul Edmonson, CEO of YieldBuild says the optimal ad plan for publishers is to have a salad bowl of ad programs on their sites.

The statement comes after a number of publishers who already had AdSense ads simply integrated PubCenter with Google’s offering. Edmondson says that the result was increased publisher CPM rates across the board. One publisher reportedly even increased their CPM rate by more than then times.

Though two powerful ad programs working in tandem may sound fantastic to website owners, is it something two names as big as Google and Microsoft are going to settle for—or will they duke it out for the hot spot?

No, Definitely Beat Them

Whichever way the cookie crumbles after Microsoft reveals PubCenter to the general public is certainly going to be interesting. The incredibly promising network could make waves in the Web advertising world if it’s competitive with its revenue splits—the primary reason behind Google’s domination.

Of course, if the economic crisis continues to rear its ugly head and online advertising becomes even shakier than it is already, Microsoft may be playing a pointless game.

However, it’s hard to ignore the hearsay. Supposedly one pilot beta tester is receiving four times more in revenue from PubCenter than AdSense. Add that to the reportedly higher quality ads and sprinkle it with the ability to get creative (PubCenter users can ad background images to their text ads) and we think there’s a good chance publishers with AdSense will want to switch over entirely.

Curious? So are we. The first limited beta is available here. Sign up and let’s let the battle begin.

Related Web 2.0 Articles

• An HTML 5 Code Editor that Lives in the Cloud
• Moving Towards a Semantic Enterprise at SemTech 2010
• Is Ning The Next Facebook or MySpace?
• Day Software's New CQ5 Web CMS Has Arrived
• RSS Comes To Chrome At Last

Job Openings  View all | Post a job | RSS

• UI/UX Designer at Nimble
• Account Associate, Inside Sales - Brand/Agency at Facebook
• Technical Web Analyst at Thomson Reuters
• Project Manage at Wireless Generation
• Technical Writer / Software Development at Omnitec Solutions, Inc
• Online Community & Content Manager at CRC
• Web Designer/User Experience Guru at Fog Creek Software
• Vice President at Emanate

Featured Events  View all | Add event | RSS

• Aug 5, 2010 – Webinar: How Combining Enterprise CMS and BPM Boosts IT Efficiency
• Sep 19, 2010 – Oracle OpenWorld 2010
• Oct 7, 2010 – HartmanEVENT 2010 - Social Media & Mobile Usability