广告大联盟疑似绝望铁三角

    最近有消息称微软（Microsoft）、雅虎（Yahoo）和美国在线（AOL）正计划展开广告销售业务合作。三家公司是不是为了试探市场反应而有意放出的风声呢？

    如果真是这样，那么市场的最初反应并不乐观。上周三，科技网站AllThingsD透露，来自三家公司的高管们于上周二晚，在曼哈顿的一场晚宴上向“一些顶级的网络出版商和广告买家”介绍了合作计划。看来他们对合作计划并非三缄其口。

    上周四，《广告周刊》（Adweek）发表文章称，微软的一位发言人透露：“我们相信选择、公开和竞争有助于促进市场创新。正因为如此，我们一直在数字广告生态系统中寻找合作伙伴，探索合作方式。我们的目标是提供创新的解决方案，让广告商和出版商都能从中受益。不过，我们目前并不打算提供更多细节。”

    换句话说：我们确实正在进行筹划此事，而且我们已经准备好了推广口号。不过，在确定市场的批评会有多尖酸刻薄前，我们并不打算正式公布计划。

    到目前为止，市场的批评之声不绝于耳。《广告周刊》的基利•梅•赫斯纳称，该杂志采访了一些媒体买家，他们一致认为，这个计划“有点绝望的味道”。

    买家们并未看到此项合作能给自己带来太大的好处，他们想知道在处理所谓的“第二等级显示广告”方面，这三家公司能比外部广告网络强多少。当然，他们能获得更多收益，不过他们必须将系统整合到一块运作，而且还必须让销售人员为自己的竞争对手兜售广告。

    此外，广告合作还可能带来另个麻烦——出于反垄断考虑，美国联邦政府一直在密切关注在线广告业务。三家联盟可能会招来监管者的注意。在正式公布计划之前，三家公司也可能是在试探政府的反应。

    此次涉及的广告是这三家公司无法独自销售的显示广告。目前，这部分广告由广告网络运作，当然，这些公司要从中分成。这次合作将让三家公司留住并分享所有收益。

    微软的参与无疑给这次合作加了分。假如只有雅虎和美国在线合作，那么看起来更像是孤注一掷之举，因为这两家公司如今都风雨飘摇。微软想要抢谷歌（Google）的生意，但假如这次合作不成功，对微软来说问题并不严重，因为其大部分收入来自软件。但对雅虎和美国在线而言则是件大事，因为两者的业务都倚赖广告，而谷歌正日渐成为广告市场的主导者。

    译者：项航

    Could the news that Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo (YHOO) and AOL (AOL) are planning to join together to sell ads on each other's sites be a trial balloon –- a leak designed to test reaction?

    If so, the early responses aren't so encouraging. AllThingsD broke the news on Wednesday, reporting that executives from all three companies made a presentation to "a group of top Web publishers and ad buyers" at a dinner in Manhattan on Tuesday night. Not the epitome of stealth.

    In a statement to Adweek today, a Microsoft spokesman said: "We believe that choice, openness and competition help drive innovation in the market. As such, we are always looking for ways to partner with others in the digital advertising ecosystem to offer innovative solutions that benefit advertisers and publishers. However we have nothing specific to share at this time,"

    In other words, yes, we're doing this, and yes, we've already got the marketing boilerplate prepared, but no, we don't want to officially announce it until we see how caustic the criticism will be.

    Pretty caustic, so far. The idea has "a whiff of desperation about it" is the consensus of the media buyers interviewed by AdWeek, writes that publication's Ki Mae Heussner.

    Those buyers, who don't see much advantage for themselves in the arrangement, wonder how much better the companies will be than outside ad networks are at handling so-called "Class 2 display inventory." Yes, they'll get more of the revenue, but they'll have to make their systems work together, and they'll have to get their sales staffs to sell ads for companies that are, after all, supposedly their rivals.

    That brings up another potential problem -- the federal government is closely scrutinizing the online advertising business for antitrust concerns. This alliance could draw regulators' attention. The companies could be testing those waters, too, before formally announcing the plan.

    The ads in question represent leftover display inventory that the individual companies can't sell on their own. Currently, such ads are handled by ad networks that, of course, take a cut. This arrangement will allow the three companies to keep all the revenue and share it among themselves.

    The presence of Microsoft no doubt helps. It would look even more desperate if it were just Yahoo and AOL, both of which are faltering. Microsoft wants to take business away from Google (GOOG), but if this doesn't work out, it won't be a huge deal to the company, which makes most of its money on software. It's a much bigger deal to Yahoo and AOL, whose businesses depend on advertising, a market that Google increasingly dominates.