According to the New York Times, Yahoo will announce today that they will begin including video and even images in their paid search advertisements. In the past, Yahoo’s primary source of ad revenue was display ads but the market shift had an effect on them in the last quarter of 2008 when display ad revenue dropped 2 percent while search increased by 11 percent.
Yahoo definitely wants to wrestle a bigger piece of the revenue pie from Google. The question is, will they be successful at it?
“Video is always more powerful than just words on the page,” said John Anton, the marketing director at Pedigree. “It’s definitely compelling to us to have options like this, where, when you type in ‘Pedigree,’ you get more than just the words, you get the video itself.”
There is currently a monthly fee for this feature and at the moment, it’s limited to established brands who have video ready like Pepsi and Home Depot. According to Yahoo, some initial pilot tests have shown a dramatic increase in click-though ratio (upwards of 25 percent).
Remember, also, that in the background is the prospect of Microsoft buying out Yahoo’s search business. Carol Bartz, Yahoo’s new CEO, said in a conference call last month that “everything is on the table”.
The Rich Ads in Search program is being shared with a small number of brand advertisers such as Pedigree and Esurance and agencies such as Razorfish. The program lets advertisers:
- Post images and video, which can increase the branding impact of search advertising. Pedigree has added video to its campaigns, for instance.
- Create deep links to relevant pages, which can help drive conversions directly from the Yahoo! search results page.
- Include boxes within the listing that lets users search for their desired product or a store location directly without additional navigation. Esurance’s listing lets users enter their ZIP codes from the results page for insurance quotes.
- Show their logo, which enhances user trust.
Rich Ads in Search is currently by invitation only, but we will update you as it opens up to more of our brand advertisers. In the meantime, start thinking of what your search ads could do for you.
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