Yahoo MRC to Panama..
Do you remember the days of Yahoo’s overture system - they weren’t great. Hey, Panama isn’t perfect as, for example, it lacks a good negative keyword control within the interface, and ad-text is adgroup specific rather than keyword specific as in adwords. But realistically, Panama was a huge step forward from the overture dinosaur.
So what does the MRC switch mean in real terms? Well, currently Yahoo controls search advertising on Orange, T-mobile , 3 and in the future O2. When Yahoo originally pitched the MRC platform to me, they were basically selling it as a brand awareness tool rather than a means of actual conversion. If you have a brand domination of PPC in websearch, then a mobile advertising campaign was almost a necessity. However, looking at the results for certain verticals such as gambling and phone related products, conversion rates have been exellent - far better than the search equivalents. I imagine this is due to the low volume of searches, they are more targeted and more likely to lead to sales. This will decrease in time and eventually the conversion rates will probably drop significantly.
The coming panama changes mean a lot. For example; accessibility to the mobile advertising platform will become more widespread. Currently you need to spend a certain monthly budget just to be considered for the MRC platform. With this increased uptake will come more competition and the margins will shrink. However, most people within the industry are just not aware of how powerful mobile advertising is right now - and just how competitive it will be. The potential for niche is fairly small, although buzzwords and spelling mistakes will be even more important in mobile than they are on search. This will make it a requirement to be in touch with different advertising cultures and groups in order to carve out a realistic return.
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