Monday, August 28, 2006

EBay Playing Both Ways With Ads

So eBay announced that Google will be its advertising partner outside of the U.S., and it will continue to do business domestically with Yahoo. The companies will work together on click-to-call advertising even though the companies have competing VOIP services. I don't think Google is throwing in the towel on GoogleTalk, I think they are attracted to getting an in with eBay, even if it means giving Skype a boost too.

I found it interesting that eBay will divide its advertising this way, but it is a smart tactic to keep both sides hungry for a larger share of the business. If either relationship isn't going so well, eBay can pressure them by threatening to jump to the other relationship.

Recently eBay started displaying ads on its website for products available from outside its commerce site, and maybe the company will be more aggressive with Google internationally before increasing the advertising presence in the U.S. The company has to carefully introduce ads so as not to jeopardize its relationship with sellers or its revenue stream.

By John Gartner at 01:41 PM | Comments (0)

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