Microsoft adCenter Labs

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Microsoft adCenter Labs (a.k.a. adlabs), is an applied research group at Microsoft that supports Microsoft adCenter. Microsoft adCenter (formerly MSN adCenter), is the division of the Microsoft Network (MSN) responsible for MSN's advertising services.

Contents

Introduction

Founded in January 2006, Microsoft adCenter Labs’ primary research facility is located in Redmond, Washington. However, a number of researchers and staff are located in China, [1] Israel, UK, and New York City. It was co-founded by then general manager of adcenter Tarek Najm with Harry Shum. [2] Microsoft adCenter lab works across a broad range of technology areas, including keyword and content technologies, audience intelligence, ad selection and relevance, social networking, and video and interactive media. [3]

The algorithms developed by the team operate in the engines of Microsoft adCenter products such as Paid Search, Content Ads, and Behavioral Targeting. One of the graduated technologies from Microsoft adCenter lab is Keyword Services Platform. The Keyword Services Platform (KSP) is a keyword research tool available through Microsoft adCenter, which contains a set of algorithms for providing information about keywords used in search engine queries. [4] KSP delivers a standardized set of keyword technologies through a Web services model, accessible via an application programming interface (API) and a Microsoft Excel add-in.

Research Areas

Adlabs is currently working in following areas: [5] [6]

1. Content Intelligence

2. User Intelligence

3. Ad selection and relevance

4. Behavioral Targeting

5. Social networks

6. Platforms and devices

7. Video and Audio

Microsoft Gaze

Microsoft Gaze is in-text advertisement solution that helps publishers to better monetize their content and users to gather meaningful and contextual information at the fingertip.

Specifically, Microsoft Gaze is based upon contextual ads and rich entities. The contextual advertising offered by Microsoft Gaze uses semantic analysis to determine dominant keywords within the content of a published web site. Rich entities are defined within Microsoft Gaze as pieces of content that are enriched with additional pre-defined attributes that are interesting to the users. [7]

Sometimes, the dominant keywords of a site are truly representative of what the content is by using technologies like KEX (keyword extraction) and smart algorithms. However, people are pretty complex and the dominant keywords may not actually reflect what the reader's main interests are. Microsoft Gaze approaches this complexity as an opportunity to engage people in a revolutionary way to learn more about what they want. This way, Gaze can serve more contextually accurate advertising. [8]

The rich entity is the key to the process. Take the rich entity of a celebrity like Paris Hilton. If someone is interested in a celebrity then they are often curious about certain elements (or attributes) of the celebrities life such as birthplace, birth date, favorite hangouts, video clips, etc. Microsoft Gaze can create a rich entity is a phrase that can be monetized with additional attributes and entity types such as Famous People, Location, Product, Company, and Event. These entities are used to engage the reader and narrow down the ads that will be most meaningful and interesting to them. [9]

Related Research Articles

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Yahoo! Native is a native "Pay per click" Internet advertising service provided by Yahoo.

Pay-per-click (PPC) is an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher when the ad is clicked.

An online advertising network or ad network is a company that connects advertisers to websites that want to host advertisements. The key function of an ad network is an aggregation of ad supply from publishers and matching it with the advertiser's demand. The phrase "ad network" by itself is media-neutral in the sense that there can be a "Television Ad Network" or a "Print Ad Network", but is increasingly used to mean "online ad network" as the effect of aggregation of publisher ad space and sale to advertisers is most commonly seen in the online space. The fundamental difference between traditional media ad networks and online ad networks is that online ad networks use a central ad server to deliver advertisements to consumers, which enables targeting, tracking and reporting of impressions in ways not possible with analog media alternatives.

Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising, and mobile advertising. Advertisements are increasingly being delivered via automated software systems operating across multiple websites, media services and platforms, known as programmatic advertising.

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising. SEM may incorporate search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content and site architecture to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages to enhance pay per click (PPC) listings and increase the Call to action (CTA) on the website.

Contextual advertising refers to a form of targeted advertising for advertisements appearing on websites or other digital platforms, such as content displayed in mobile browsers. Contextual targeting involves the use of linguistic factors to control the placement of advertising material. The advertisements are selected and delivered by automated systems, taking into consideration the context of a user's search or browsing behaviour. As advertisers and marketers increasingly prioritise brand safety and suitability, contextual advertising has emergeed as a crucial aspect in safeguarding the reputation and value of a brand.

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In Internet marketing, search advertising is a method of placing online advertisements on web pages that show results from search engine queries. Through the same search-engine advertising services, ads can also be placed on Web pages with other published content.

Website monetization is the process of converting existing traffic being sent to a particular website into revenue. The most popular ways of monetizing a website are by implementing pay per click (PPC) and cost per impression (CPI/CPM) advertising. Various ad networks facilitate a webmaster in placing advertisements on pages of the website to benefit from the traffic the site is experiencing.

The Keyword Services Platform (KSP) is a keyword research tool available through Microsoft adCenter, which contains a set of algorithms for providing information about keywords used in search engine queries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Targeted advertising</span> Form of advertising

Targeted advertising is a form of advertising, including online advertising, that is directed towards an audience with certain traits, based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting. These traits can either be demographic with a focus on race, economic status, sex, age, generation, level of education, income level, and employment, or psychographic focused on the consumer values, personality, attitude, opinion, lifestyle and interest. This focus can also entail behavioral variables, such as browser history, purchase history, and other recent online activities. The process of algorithm targeting eliminates waste.

Hypertargeting refers to the ability to deliver advertising content to specific interest-based segments in a network. MySpace coined the term in November 2007 with the launch of their SelfServe advertising solution, described on their site as "enabling online marketers to tap into self-expressed user information to target campaigns like never before."

InMobi is an Indian multinational technology company, based in Bengaluru, India. Its mobile-first platform allows brands, developers and publishers to engage consumers through contextual mobile advertising. The company was founded in 2007 under the name mKhoj by Naveen Tewari, Mohit Saxena, Amit Gupta and Abhay Singhal.

Search syndication is a type of contextual advertising which allows online search advertisers to buy keyword-targeted traffic outside of search engine results pages. This is considered to be an alternative to advertising on search engines, since 43% of all searches occur outside of the top search engines.

140 Proof is an advertising company that uses social data from many sources in targeting relevant ads based on consumers' interests as indicated by their social activity across networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woobi</span>

Woobi, formally known as TokenAds, was a digital marketing company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. It provided in-game advertising services for online games, including supply-side platforms and real-time bidding. The company's technology monetized non-paying users through value-exchange advertising, integrated into gameplay.

AdDuplex is a cross-promotion network for Windows Store apps and games. It helps developers reach new users by cross-promoting their apps with other developers on the platform. According to the AdDuplex website more than 10,000 active apps and games use the network, serving more than 30 million ad impressions every day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Advertising revenue</span> Income from displaying online ads

Advertising revenue is the monetary income that individuals and businesses earn from displaying paid advertisements on their websites, social media channels, or other platforms surrounding their internet-based content. In September 2018, the U.S Internet advertising market was estimated to be worth $111 billion, with market share being held mostly between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. These companies earn revenue through online advertising but also have initiated pathways for individual users and social media influencers to earn an income. Individuals and businesses can earn advertising revenue through advertising networks such as Google AdSense, YouTube monetization, or Outbrain.

References

  1. ↑ Li, Olive (16 January 2006). "Microsoft adCenter Incubation Lab Opens In Beijing". China Tech News.
  2. ↑ "Microsoft AdCenter Labs Online Advertising Breakthroughs". Microsoft.com. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  3. ↑ Protalinski, Emil (7 February 2008). "Microsoft adCenter Labs tries to change online ad game. Microsoft has unveiled seven next-generation digital advertising technologies …". Ars Technica.
  4. ↑ "Keyword Service Platform". Microsoft.com. Retrieved 2009-01-01.[ dead link ]
  5. ↑ Net, Thomas (5 February 2008). "Microsoft adCenter Labs Unveils Digital Advertising Innovations at Fourth Annual Demo Fest". Thomasnet.
  6. ↑ Zafra, Arnold (6 February 2008). "Microsoft Adcenter Labs Introduces Digital Advertising Technologies". Search Engine Journal.
  7. ↑ Protalinski, Emil (5 February 2009). "adCenter Labs talks in-text advertising; Gaze goes beta". Ars Technica.
  8. ↑ Bishop, Todd (3 February 2009). "Microsoft tries in-text advertising popups with new 'Gaze' project". Seattle Tech-Flash.
  9. ↑ Gohring, Nancy (18 March 2009). "Microsoft Works to Deliver Better Ads". PC World.
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