Yahoo is to
launch its new advertising management system on 5 February, nearly
one month earlier than expected.
The Panama system is designed to challenge Google's AdSense pay-per-click
programme.
Google lets advertisers bid on keywords and charges a fee per
click. The company favours relevant advertising by positioning ads
that receive the most clicks at the top of the search results
page.
This ensures that consumers are presented with relevant ads, and
maximises Google's revenues.
Yahoo's new system is expected to allow for similar granular
targeting and should help the search provider increase its
revenues.
Panama will replace the advertising technology that Yahoo acquired
from pay-per-click provider Overture in 2003.
The acquisition allowed the firm to increase its advertising
revenue, but Yahoo's failure to further develop the system and
integrate it with other systems over time caused it to fall behind
Google in the online advertising market.
