コンテンツの提供者がMicrosoftの文脈広告をセルフサービス形式でコンテンツの隣に挿入できる機能を、今Microsoftはパイロット事業として試験している。下に引用するメール〔英文〕から分かるのは、それがGoogleのAdsenseやYahooのPublisher Networkにとてもよく似ていることだ。

Googleがこの分野（そして文脈広告全般）を支配している。提供者に支払う広告料金が群を抜いて高いからだ。YahooとMicrosoftは、以前は最低保証をすることでGoogleとの差を埋めようとしていた。さらにYahooは、広告を検索結果の横に出してもいいなど、柔軟性を増す努力をしていた。

このパイロット事業は7月21日に始まる。サイトに払う広告料で、どうやってGoogleに勝つつもりか、その戦略は不明だが、Microsoftは共存を志向しているようだ―「Googleと排他的契約をしていなければ、Microsoftの広告をGoogleの広告を出しているサイトやページに載せてもよい。」としている。

サードパーティのサイトに広告を出すことは、論争のタネだ。なぜなら、広告主は検索ページと同じようなクリックスルーやページ移動を期待する。今週の初めに、Googleは詐欺の容疑で告訴された。待機(parked)ページに置いた広告が結果を生まなかったからだ。

でも、Microsoftが大損を覚悟でGoogleよりも高い広告料を提供者たちに支払う気なら、広告ページが急速に増えて、利用希望者の長い待ち行列ができるだろう。

Microsoftのメールの原文〔英文〕を下に掲載した。私はMicrosoftにコメントを求めているが、われわれの見たところでは、Microsoftがセルフサービス製品のテストをするのはこれが初めてだ。これまでは、いちいち同社とのパートナーシップの契約が必要だったし、同社はトラフィックの非常に高いサイトしか相手にしなかった。

アップデート: Microsoftの広報担当者によれば、このテストは少数のサイトを対象に、今年の初めごろから行っている。ただし、一般公開がいつになるかは不明だ。

Dear xxxxxx:

Thank you for your recent completion of the self-submission form on the Microsoft adCenter site for this program. Below is more information for you about the pilot. I can answer general questions you may have about participation. Please let me know if you would like to proceed and I can invite you formally on Monday July 21st to begin.

The pilot is small and not public, and participants will be asked to agree to a Confidentiality Statement before taking part – this means that you will not be able to blog about the program or discuss it outside of your company.. We would be seeking feedback and suggestions from you about the service, its interface, and its effectiveness in generating revenue for your site. There is no exclusivity requirement and no minimum requirement for the number of ad units you may implement. You may use other contextual ads on the same pages as Microsoft ads during the pilot or implement only on the most relevant pages on your site.

You may also use Microsoft ads on the same sites and pages as Google ads as long as you do not have a specific exclusivity agreement with them.

“Competitive Ads and Services: In order to prevent user confusion, we do not permit Google ads or search boxes to be published on websites that also contain other ads or services formatted to use the same layout and colors as the Google ads or search boxes on that site. Although you may sell ads directly on your site, it is your responsibility to ensure these ads cannot be confused with Google ads.”

In addition, please take note of the following:

•We would request that you agree to take part in the pilot for at least two months or two full payment cycles.

•Only publishers who are U.S. based may take part; completing a W9 form is necessary to receive payment.

•Click rates will be closely monitored during the pilot and publishers whose click rates give cause for concern or are anomalous will be removed from the program and will not be paid for clicks on their ads.

•Microsoft can make no guarantee regarding the amount of any payments you may receive for the ads shown on your website during this test although the purpose of the program is to monetize your site with contextual advertising.

•We would ask that you not use a third party provider to serve Microsoft ads during this test program. If this is an impossible obstacle for you, please contact me about it.

•For the purposes of the pilot, you will be limited to a single account but you may implement ads on up to ten approved web properties that comply with the Microsoft adCenter editorial guidelines.

Best regards,

XXXXXXXX (for Aditi) at Microsoft

アップデート2: Microsoftは次のような声明文を送ってきた:

Microsoft’s self-serve advertising offering for publishers is still under development and is currently in a private pilot phase, being tested by select publishers who met the participation requirements. The private pilot phase began earlier this year. A private, phased approach allows us to learn more about customer interest in content advertising and provide guidance as to how we can improve the product and deliver the right features required to meet publisher and advertiser needs. It’s our intention to continue to expand our high quality network and relevant audience gradually and intelligently over time for our advertisers. We will evaluate customer interest and product performance as we move through the private pilot, but we have no specific launch plans to announce at this time.

We encourage publishers who are interested in joining the pilot to fill out an interest form here: http://advertising.microsoft.com/publisher

[原文へ]

（翻訳：hiwa）