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Microsoft today made an omnibus executive rearrangement announcement covering a variety of Corporate and Senior Vice Presidents. Here are the novel aspects from my perspective:
Microsoft today announced a new site that will be showing Microsoft Content Ads – the Wall Street Journal Digital Network:
The Wall Street Journal Digital Network today announced an agreement in which Microsoft Corp. becomes the exclusive third-party provider of contextual and paid search advertising for its network of sites, including The Wall Street Journal Online, Barrons.com, MarketWatch.com, AllThingsD.com and others.
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The addition of these sites brings an additional 20 million unique visitors per month to the extended Microsoft network, enabling advertisers to reach out to an increasingly deep and attractive audience in the financial services vertical. The Wall Street Journal Digital Network is expected to begin providing Microsoft contextual advertising in February.
It is a two year deal with unspecified financial terms and Microsoft displaced Pulse 360 and business.com. Google’s erstwhile acquisition DoubleClick will continue to provide banner advertising.
The good news here is that this isn’t another instance of Microsoft vending old fashioned banner ads placed by their crew of banner ad salesman, but modern content targeted ads available to all advertisers through MSN adCenter:
Last week, the aQuantive shareholders voted their approval of the company’s acquisition by Microsoft (as well they might since the offer was roughly twice aQuantive’s market cap). Today, Microsoft announced completion of the acquisition and the creation of a new Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group with former aQuantive CEO Brian McAndrews as the newly anointed Microsoft Web Ad Czar.
