Adam Jewell - Search & Affiliate Marketing

Holy shit, this is huge!  There had been rumblings for the last few months that DoubleClick was on the block, talking to Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG) and maybe others about a potential sale.  Well, apparently on April 13th, 2007 Google won the bidding war and will be taking over DoubleClick.

3.1 billion seems like a bit of a premium for a company that reportedly made around 300 million last year but it may turn out to be a much better investment than the 1.6 billion Google paid for YouTube.com.  DoubleClick has tons of data as well and many coveted relationships with advertisers and publishers.  Not only does Google gain all this data and all these relationships but Microsoft loses the opportunity to acquire them.

Speaking of Microsoft, one wonders just what they are doing or thinking.    Microsoft was clearly asleep at the wheel while Google became a hundred billion dollar company in the area of web search.  When people think of Google they think of search. 

When people think of Microsoft, what do they think of? 

• Their most recent computer crash?
• The last virus that ripped through their computer?
• The new Windows Vista operating system that they have no need to go out and buy an upgrade for?
• Microsoft search?

It seems that Microsoft would like you to think of search when you think of Microsoft but first maybe Microsoft should think of search when Microsoft thinks of Microsoft.

What is Microsoft search?

• Is is MSN.com? - well there is certainly a lot more than search at MSN.com  IT should be pretty clear that the “portal approach” doesn’t work to well.  RIP Alta Vista & Yahoo!, well they aren’t exactly stealing marketshare from Google these days.
• Is it Live.com? - There is a search box there and maybe some people use it and the search results are ok but it doesn’t seem like many people use it.
• How about other MSN properties like MSN Money? - Well, when you go there, it steals the focus of your cursor and puts it in the stock quote search box.  How annoying, when I want to search I’ll determine when and where and I don’t want Microsoft to get in the way!

Look at the Microsoft Money forums. What kind of technology platform do they have that running on? There is tons of great content that search engines would eat up, good posters and moderators but it is so sloooooooooooooow to load and I probably built to keep search engines out.

So anyway, since it seems MSFT is having a hard time getting their own house in order, acquisitions may be their saving grace.  Right now Microsoft search, MSN, Live.com, whatever it is that is the Microsoft search offering has such a small amount of traffic that it does not command much attention from advertisers.  An acquisition like DoubleClick would have at least helped Microsoft get in the online advertising game, given them some data to play with and some relationships.  It would take a herculean effort to build something like DoubleClick from scratch today.

An Internet (or world) where one company is the gateway to the worlds information is no good for anyone, except maybe if you work at Google. 

If you are a web property, if you are a media company that has worked with DoubleClick, maybe you should take a step back and think.  Think about all the data that Google now has access to about your company.  Should you continue to work with DoubleClick.  You have to work with Google since they are the default search provider for such a large percentage of the population but there are other options for managing your paid search & media programs.  Maybe it’s time to start thinking about them.

Along with all of the technologies and data that come with DoubleClick, Google gets the Performics company that offers search and affiliate marketing services.  This gives Google more conversion data and insight into affiliate marketing. 

Hopefully Microsoft can get focused, can start to realize the value of assets in the online world.  They need to change their perspective and realize they can’t continue to do business the same way anymore.  Here’s hoping they can succeed.  Someone needs to give Google a run for the money but maybe it will have to be an unknown startup.