Tag Archive: advertising

There’s no denying that Google is the currently the 800-pound Gorilla of the Internet search and keyword advertising markets—the company handles about two-thirds of all Internet searches (more in some countries) and handles an even larger proportion of ad links that appear on millions of Web sites. Now TradeComet, which runs the tiny competing search engine SourceTool, as filed an antitrust complaint against Google, alleging the company manipulates the prices of its advertising to suppress competition from rival search tools. According to TradeComet, Ads it used to be able to buy for 5 to 10 center per click suddenly skyrocketed to $5 and $10 per click just as SourceTool was starting to gain some industry momentum.

Senator Herb Kohl (D. Wisconsin) is the head of the Senate’s antitrust committee, and while he’s not actually coming out against an imminent link-up between Internet giants Google and Yahoo, he is urging the U.S. Justice Department to commit to monitoring the deal if it is approved. Under the arrangement—which Google and Yahoo are looking to launch very shortly—Google will be able to sell advertising on a number of high-traffic Yahoo sites. In his warning, Kohl notes that the amount of advertising Yahoo outsources to Google could be a threat to competition in the online advertising market.  Read more...

AOL has just acquired its fourth online advertising company in 2007 as the company moves to build out its Platform-A online advertising business. Today, the target is Quigo, a New York-based provider of site advertising and content-targeted online advertising services. Quigo runs the AdSonar Web site network (which includes high-profile sites like CNNMoney.com, People.com, ESPN.com, and many more), and also operates the search engine marketeding business FeedPoint. Quigo also brings existing relationships with more than 500 content publishers, including Time, Inc., and more than 3,000 advertisers.

The companies have not disclosed the financial details of the transaction.