Eight months ago when Google announced its new self-service online display advertising system, AdReady Chief Executive Aaron Finn noted at the time that he felt proud, nervous and motivated that the search giant was copying his Seattle company's offering.
Now, the battle is escalating even more. AdReady today unveiled a significant partnership to power Yahoo's new My Display Ads offering -- a pilot program designed to help small and medium-sized businesses easily create, monitor and distribute display ads through Yahoo.
AdReady and Yahoo have been working together for some time. I first got word of a partnership last June, and at the time speculated that the Seattle upstart could be an attractive acquisition candidate for Yahoo. (Perhaps even more so now given that Yahoo has publicly said in recent weeks that it will be going on the acquisition path).
Backed with $12 million from Madrona Venture Group, Bain Capital, Khosla Ventures and others, AdReady's goal is to help online publishers and media companies grab some of the local advertisers (car dealers, dentists, retailers, etc.) who might not be accustomed to running display ads online.
Local advertisers choose from ad templates on AdReady, then use the tool to distribute the messages to targeted demographic groups in certain geographies. The AdReady tool -- used by The New York Times, MSNBC and others -- also allows clients to track what advertisements are working best.
It will be interesting to see how this battle unfolds. Google has decided to build its own product. Yahoo -- which has made display advertising a cornerstone of its strategy -- is partnering with AdReady.
And then there's still another big player eyeing this space: Microsoft.
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