eBay buys ads from Yahoo
eBay will now be purchasing Yahoo ads, both of the graphical and text variety, and displaying them on eBay pages. I was initially surprised, but after a bit of thought this really should’ve happen sooner. Yahoo’s ad business is massive, and eBay is in the commerce business and they can’t bury their heads in the sand about targeted advertising.
Most of the coverage I’ve read this afternoon points to this agreement as a defensive tactic against Google’s war machine. eBay and Yahoo are recognizing that search is the ultimate leveler and that there are very few shopping destinations on the net, even if Ms. Whitman doesn’t think so. From the New York Times:
“There is a lot more to running a marketplace than getting a lot of listings,” Ms. Whitman said. “There is trust and safety, and payments and reputation. That stands eBay in good stead.”
It’s disappointing to me how slow Microsoft seems to be in finding a ticket to the dance on this one. Yet another example of how being a large organization can hold you back I suppose.