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Tag: David Pann

  • Ad Spend Growth For Bing Is More Than Double That Of Google’s

    In its “State of Paid Search” report for the first quarter of the year, The Search Agency finds that Bing’s growth has more than doubled the rate of Google’s in ad spend. Of course, with Google being such a dominant force, and Bing still working to catch up this doesn’t come as a huge surprise, but either way, it spells good news for Microsoft.

    Advertisers spent more on both compared to the previous year, but Bing grew by 60%, and Google grew by 29%. The Search Agency also found that mobile (including tablets) accounted for 28% of all impressions. They expect this to be 40% by the end of 2014.

    The majority of mobile growth came from true mobile use. Smartphone impression increased 60% while tablets increased by 42%, and desktop by 9%. Still, spend on smartphones only grew by 26%.

    “Bing gains ground in overall search traffic and has proven to be an appealing alternative to Google,” said Delia Perez, SVP Marketing Strategy at the firm. “A number of factors are driving this growth as advertisers are drawn to Bing’s more flexible campaign management tools in the aftermath of Google’s crossover to enhanced campaigns. Advertisers are still adjusting to Google’s bundling of device management, and Bing may be the more attractive option because it can be a customizable alternative.”

    The report also found that total spend across both Google and Bing was up 35% from the previous year, driven by all three device types (desktop, smartphone, tablet).

    “Most notably, Bing started 2014 with a solid quarter,” the firm says. “Advertisers increased spend on Google and Bing, but Bing’s spend was notable and grew 60% versus Google, who only saw 29% growth over the same quarter. This increase in spend indicates that Bing is gradually becoming a more appealing network for advertisers to devote spend, in part because of its recent increases in click-through rate (CTR) combined with decreases in cost-per-clicks (CPCs).”

    Earlier this week, Bing shared some numbers from IgnitionOne, declaring, “Bing Ads is off to a great start in 2014.”

    “We delivered over a thousand enhancements and released dozens of new features, many of which you, our advertisers, were specifically asking for,” wrote David Pann, the GM for Microsoft’s search network. “But we won’t stop there. Now that Bing Ads has been fortified, 2014 is a year where our efforts on delivering great results and value to our customers is increased and more laser focused than ever.”

    Some stats fro the IgnitionOne report:

    – Market share up to 22.9% of advertiser spend

    – Yahoo Bing Network clicks increased by 30% (year-over-year)

    – Yahoo Bing Network clicks for smartphones increased 276 (year-over-year)

    – 57%increase in Yahoo Bing Network click volume (year-over-year)

    “This report reinforces and validates what we are seeing first-hand: that the overall growth of the Yahoo Bing Network continues to gain momentum,” said Pann.

    Yet Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer seems to really want out of the partnership.

    Image via Bing, The Search Agency

  • Bing Product Ads Still On Track For Q3 Release

    Back in January, we had a conversation with David Pann, GM of Microsoft’s Search Network, who told us that we could expect Bing’s version of product listing ads sometime this year. This came shortly after a big anti-Google campaign from the company slamming Google Shopping based on its product listing ads.

    Pan told us Microsoft’s will not result in a “pay to play” system for Bing Shopping like Google’s. Otherwise, the ads are similar to Google’s. When we talked, the ads were still in alpha, and Pann just said he expected them to roll out during this calendar year. In April, Bing announced they’d be coming in the third quarter. Now, Pann tells Search Engine Land:

    “We are on track to release Product Ads in Q3 of this year. We have invited a targeted set of U.S. advertisers to participate in a ‘closed beta’ through the holiday season so that we allow time to ensure our primary goal of creating a great customer experience while also listening to/implementing any advertiser feedback. We will announce general availability timing in the coming months.”

    On Wednesday, Adobe announced that its Media Optimizer is the first to market with support for the ads.

    Bing Product Listing Ads

    With the product, advertisers can manage Bing Product Ads and Promotions Lines, manage Bing Product Targets, report/measure Product Ad and Product Target performance against ROI metrics, view search queries that led to conversions through Bing Product Ads, algorithmically optimize bids between individual Product Targets and All Product Target, and create/update campaigns from product feeds and templates.

    “Bing Prod­uct Ads rep­re­sent another key opportunity for retailers in the search engine mar­ket­ing (SEM) land­scape,” says Adobe’s Jonathan Beeston. ” With Adobe Media Opti­mizer being first to mar­ket, as it also was with Google Prod­uct List­ing Ads (PLAs), Google Enhanced Cam­paigns and Twit­ter Ads API, we’re enabling adver­tis­ers to max­i­mize their ROI by tak­ing advan­tage of new ad for­mats and channels.”

    You can read more about Bing’s product ads here.

  • Bing About To Get Google-Like Product Listing Ads [Exclusive]

    We spoke with David Pann, GM of Microsoft’s Search Network, and he tells us that we can expect Bing’s version of product listing ads sometime this year. This may raise a few eyebrows, considering Bing’s heavy campaigning against Google’s PLA-based Google Shopping model, but rest assured, Bing’s not about to start a paid-only model for its shopping results.

    Would you test the waters with Bing’s product listing ads? Let us know in the comments.

    Just in time for the holidays, Bing launched a big anti Google Shopping campaign advising people not to get “Scroogled”. This was in response to Google’s transition to a paid inclusion model for shopping results.

    “Merchants must now pay Google to be listed in the shopping results, and how much they pay helps determine how they appear in the rankings, so now every ‘result’ is really just an ad,” a Bing spokesperson told us at the time. “Unfortunately most consumers are unaware of this change because the disclaimers are not easily discoverable.”

    We don’t have much in the way of details about Bing’s coming product listing ads (even their official name), but Pann says it’s not going to result in a pay to play system for Bing Shopping the way Google Shopping is set up. Google Shopping (as of October in the U.S. and since in other countries) is based solely on PLAs, but Bing will retain free listings as well. Pann says there is room for free and paid to co-exist.

    When we talked with Bing’s Stefan Weitz in December, he told us, “The problem with Google’s Shopping results is that they look like search. They act like search. But everything one sees in the ‘search’ experience is bought and paid for.”

    “In stark contrast, we simply don’t take money in exchange for ranking. Period,” he said. “The vast majority of our product listings come either from free feeds given to us by merchants and our crawler. Yes, it’s harder. Yes, it costs us more money to make sure we offer a quality shopping experience. But at least it’s still real search.”

    “One of Danny’s issues is that we accept feeds from third party aggregators like Shopping.com and PriceGrabber,” Weitz continued, referring to a Danny Sullivan article criticizing Bing for engaging in some of the practices it seemed to be calling out Google for. “A merchant may pay to have their products listed in one of those third party sites. We, in turn, get feeds from those sites to make sure we have a complete product offering catalog. And if a customer happens to buy a product from a merchant who has paid one of the third party shopping sites to be listed, we do get a portion of that click revenue. But – and this is important – we DO NOT take into account the fact a merchant paid a third party when we rank our product offers. If we manage to get paid, it’s a happy accident. Unlike Google, it isn’t our business model.”

    Pann expects the product listing ads to come to market sometime this calendar year.

    Bing product listing ads have been spotted in the wild in the past. Last summer, RKG shared some screenshots of what Microsoft was testing at the time.

    Bing PLAs

    It’s unclear at this point if the finished product will look just like these. Pann did say the product would be similar to Google’s PLAs. He also noted that some “alpha testers” have been using them.

    There has pretty much been nothing but positive data coming out about Google’s PLAs lately (positive for Google and for advertisers). In fact, Adobe recently shared some data with us indicating that Google PLA spend alone is nearly that of Yahoo Bing Network spend in the U.S.

    Still, Yahoo Bing Network continues to take away market share from Google piece by piece. Microsoft points to independent data from firms like RKG showing that Microsoft’s Bing Ads and the Yahoo Bing Network have seen positive momentum already this year, and that Bing Ads have gained paid search spend share from Google for the fourth quarter in a row.

    Pann attributes the Bing Ads momentum to a variety of factors. One is new ad formats like its version of sitelinks, which Pann says have seen rapid adoption. According to Pann, advertisers come over with the mentality of “It performs well over there [Google], so it will here too.”

    Another factor, Pann says, has been Microsoft’s efforts in reducing friction for advertisers and making the system easier to use. He says Microsoft has adopted the philosophy of “what takes 45 minutes in AdWords should take 15 minutes with Bing Ads”. He also says the Google Import Feature has been a key factor, in its availability for the desktop tool, the API, and the user interface. Adoption of the feature, he says, has taken off.

    Similar capabilities will likely be implemented in other tools in the future. He notes that Google’s agreement with the FTC (the part related to ad campaign data portability) is an important step in that regard.

    Microsoft and Pann appear quite pleased with the level of success Bing Ads have seen in recent months, but Pann says, “We’re not finished by any means.”

    The new product listing ads are just one thing Microsoft has up its sleeve for the year. Also on the horizon are Bing Ad Express (aimed at Small Businesses) and Click-to-Call ads with Skype integration. More on those here.

    Are you looking forward to Bing offering product listing ads? Let us know in the comments.