As reported earlier, Yahoo! has launched a new self-serve display advertising solution called Yahoo! My Display Ads. A Yahoo spokesperson was kind enough to answer a few questions about the service for Murdok.
Chris Crum: Are there templates that support video and rich media?
Yahoo: At this time My Display Ads does not support video or rich media, but they may be considered for future product releases.
CC: What Yahoo!/partner sites will users be able to display their ads on?
Yahoo: Advertisers will be able to display their ads across Yahoo! properties and select partner sites, rather than having to make specific buys per site. Furthermore, advertisers will be able to target by site content category – i.e. Shopping, Travel, Education to name a few – across these sites.
CC: Is this in any way integrated into Yahoo Search Marketing?
Yahoo: Yahoo! My Display Ads runs on Yahoo!’s Right Media Exchange. It is not integrated with search and offers only display solutions to advertisers across the Yahoo! network. However, we will continue to enhance this product and identify key areas of integration across the Yahoo! product suite.
CC: How quickly can an advertiser get an ad displayed throughout the network from the beginning of the creative process?
Yahoo: Advertisers can quickly create banners ads (in a matter of hours – or even minutes) and once a campaign is submitted, it will take 1-4 business days for review and approval before it can be displayed across the Yahoo! network.
I’d like to thank Yahoo for answering these questions. It should be noted that while Yahoo! My Display Ads aren’t integrated directly with search, campaigns from both the display ads and search ads can be tracked together. Matt Lillig with Yahoo! Search Analytics left the following comment on the first Murdok article about the service:
Hi Chris,
Thanks again for staying on top of the latest Yahoo! news! This is a great program because it gives everybody a chance to run cost effective display campaigns.
Any Yahoo! search advertiser should also be aware that if they sign up with Yahoo! My Display Ads, they’ll now have an opportunity to track both their Yahoo! My Display Ads and their Yahoo! Search campaigns under one roof using the Full Analytics solution within their Yahoo! Search Marketing account.
As you dicussed in one of your previous posts, running display ads along with search has shown to provide a better ROI than running either display or search by themselves:
There are also recent independent studies that back up this search + display theory:
Online Publishers Association Study Shows Consumers Exposed to Display Advertising Are More Engaged and Spend More Money Online
http://64.13.250.16/newsletter.php?newsId=531&newsType=pr
Search Engine Marketing and Online Display Advertising Integration Study
http://www.iprospect.com/about/researchstudy_2009_searchanddisplay.htm
Using Full Analytics, advertisers will be able to take advantage of the Assist metric and measure how well their Yahoo! My Display Ads perform at driving conversions for their other ads, such as search.
Using Full Analytics, display advertisers no longer have to rely on the direct reponse (last click conversion) method of measuring the success of a display ad. They can now attribute credit to display ads that drive conversions for their other ads (down the conversion funnel) due to their branding power.
Matt Lillig
Yahoo! Search Analytics
