With a goal of building the web’s largest advertising network, Microsoft initiated testing with 20 global marketers to display their ads across Office Live, Windows Live, and MSN Spaces.
Microsoft has seen the future, and it contains advertisements. The company announced in a statement today that ads from the likes of Coca-Cola Brazil, JC Penney, and Monster would start showing up across a variety of their properties.
“Advertising is a very important business model for Microsoft worldwide because an increasing number of advertisers are becoming more global,” said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president for Global Sales and Marketing at Microsoft.
“With ad-supported software opportunities, we’re able to offer great services at low or no cost for our consumers and a vast ecosystem for advertisers.”
Depending on where someone is in the world will determine where they may see these test ads, Microsoft said:
Windows Live display ads are currently being tested in MSN Spaces in Australia and Italy, and Windows Live Mail display ads are being tested in various markets across the world including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Office Live display ads are initially being tested in the U.S. and immediately sold out of their available openings for beta advertisers.
Though the Live projects have occupied some of Microsoft’s recent focus, the company also said it would “continue to invest heavily in MSN.com.” They also see advertising opportunities on places like Microsoft.com, the Xbox Live service, and Internet Protocol television, the latter a technology Microsoft developed.
During the ad tests, Microsoft will try out a variety of ad formats and determine which ones deliver the best return on investment for clients, while adding value for end-users viewing those ads. The company anticipates continuing this test through 2006.
—
Tag: | document.write(“Email Murdok here.”)
Drag this 
Add to document.write(“Del.icio.us”) | DiggThis | Yahoo! My Web
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
