Microsoft To Spend $2 Billion On Bing Ads In The UK

As fans of "The Office" may know, it's fairly common for the entertainment industry to take a successful concept and adapt it for use overseas.  And now, Microsoft's performing a similar conversion, launching a "Bing and decide" advertising campaign in the U.K.

It's a good bet that you've seen a couple of these amusing TV spots by now; they feature one person trying to talk to another, but the second individual, suffering from "search overload," is only able to respond by rattling off absurd details related to certain keywords.

It's commercials in this vein that Microsoft intends to air in the U.K., starting this Wednesday and continuing through the middle of June.  Mark Sweney reported that the campaign will cost the company a significant amount: $2 billion.

Ashley Highfield, who used to work for the BBC and now holds the lengthy title "Managing Director & VP, Consumer & Online UK" at Microsoft, also assured Sweney, "This is a big moment - we are taking out our slingshots and taking on Goliath."

Highfield didn't lay out what sort of market share gains Microsoft hopes to make as a result of this ad campaign.

Yahoo Mobile Europe Manager Quits

Almost exactly one month ago, the Yahoo Mobile Blog launched, and nine new posts have been made since, signaling that the company really is interested in mobile tech.  Unfortunately, one of Yahoo's mobile execs has decided to part ways with it at this juncture.

Mitch Lazar, Managing Director and General Manager of Yahoo Mobile Europe, is leaving Yahoo after about five years.  According to Tricia Duryee, Lazar admitted in a message to some colleagues that he doesn't know what he'll do next, either, which makes the situation look rather worse for Yahoo.

Still, Lazar tried to portray Yahoo (along with himself) in a positive light.  He wrote, "We didn't have much of a business when I joined, but we now have over 100 mobile search and ad deals around the globe with the genesis of those beginning right here in the UK."

Lazar even said, "Between those and the distribution deals with Nokia and the OEMs we really created an exciting leadership position for the company."

There's no word yet on who will replace Lazar within Yahoo.  Given the way Carol Bartz has been trying to simplify the company, it's possible we'll just see some other execs' responsibilities shuffled as a way of filling the hole.

UPDATE: A Yahoo representative was good enough to email WebProNews, and he wrote, "Mitch Lazar is leaving Yahoo! to pursue other opportunities and we wish him the best in his future endeavors. Rich Riley, SVP, Yahoo! Europe, is now responsible for Yahoo!'s mobile efforts across Europe."

Is This the Answer for Online News Revenue?

Leading publishers are getting together for what is widely being considered something of a "Hulu for magazines." Publishers involved include Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc.

These companies released a joint announcement today saying that they have entered into an independent venture to develop open standards for a new digital storefront and related technology that will "allow consumers to enjoy their favorite media content on portable digital devices."

The idea is that publishers can boost online revenue in a similar fashion to what the companies behind Hulu are doing with online television The publishers say the goal is to create a highly featured common reading application capable of rendering the distinctive look and feel of each publication, a publishing platform optimized for multiple devices, operating systems and screen sizes, a consumer storefront with an extensive selection of publications, and a rich array of advertising opportunities.

The selection of publications will not be limited to just those from the companies involved. They are saying that the venture will welcome other publishers to offer their content as well. Publishers will get their revenue from content and advertising sales, as well as print subscriptions.

"For the consumer, this digital initiative will provide access to an extraordinary selection of engaging content products, all customized for easy download on the device of their choice, including smartphones, e-readers and laptops," explained John Squires, the venture's interim managing director. "Once purchased, this content will be 'unlocked' for consumers to enjoy anywhere, anytime, on any platform."

The storefront will of course offer magazine and newspaper publications, but will also include books, comic books, blogs, and other media. The venture does not yet have a name. It will be interesting to see what they come up with and if consumers jump on board with the model.

Is this a step in the right direction for publishers? Talk to ArisYulianta and Friends... what you think.


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Portuguese Internet Users Reached Nearly 4 Million in September

comScore released findings this week from a study of the online habits of Portuguese Internet users. Interestingly, they found that the Portuguese Internet audience grew to nearly 4 Million users in September.

Over 3.8 million people age 15 and older accessed the Internet from a home or work location in Portugal in September, viewing an average 1,843 pages and spending an average 1.9 hours online per person during the month.

"Portugal represents a dynamic and growing Internet market in Europe with users continuing to be more active and engaged online," said Mike Read, comScore managing director for Europe and Ibero America. "The average Internet user in Portugal is spending more time online engaging in different behaviors such as reading news and articles, search, conducting personal financial transactions and social networking. As these behaviors continue to take hold in the Portuguese market there will be an increasing number of opportunities to leverage the Internet for marketing and advertising purposes."

Google sites are the most popular in Portugal, according to comScore's data. Here's a look at the top 15 online properties for Portugal:

Naturally, social media plays a big role in Internet use in Portugal, but it is not Facebook that dominates there, according to comScore's numbers. Here are the top ten social networking sites:

The figures for both charts exclude traffic from public computers, such as those from Internet cafes. They also exclude access from mobile phones and PDA's. I'm willing to bet that social networks and Google sites are pretty popular among mobile users in Portugal though.

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