Microsoft Ad Sales System Attempts to One-Up Google

Microsoft is hoping to one-up Google and Yahoo with online ad selling function that, unlike Google’s, allows advertisers to target ads to users based on their sex, age or location.  The New York Times reports that Microsoft hopes its new system, which will be unveiled today, will match many of the features of Google’s system, which is generally seen as more advanced than Yahoo’s, and add a few innovations. The most significant advancement in the MSN technology is its ability to direct ads to viewers according to demographic characteristics, as well as by the day and time the ad is shown. The Times reports that Microsoft will start using the system to sell ads on its Web sites in Singapore and France, and will phase in the system in the United States, using its own ads on some pages and ads sold by Yahoo on others, starting in October.  Read more.

–A. Jahnke