Denied by Yahoo! as recently as a few days ago, its "Project Panama" — the attempt to integrate more variables to make its paid search ads more relevant and perform better — is ready to launch. Here's more from Saul Hansell at the NY Times (reg. req'd). Here are two noteworthy paragraphs from the article:
Those clicks should immediately turn into a lot more cash for Yahoo. It will not say how much. But Jordan Rohan, an analyst for RBC Capital Markets, estimates that if the strategy works, Yahoo will increase search-advertising revenue at least 20 percent right away — about $125 million in the fourth quarter of this year and $600 million next year.
and . . .
Gigantic for Yahoo, however, may well be pipsqueak compared with its free-spending competitors. Google plans to spend at least $1.5 billion this year on servers, networking equipment and the facilities to house them, and it is hiring 1,000 people each quarter, many of them engineers. Microsoft plans to spend $2 billion on search and Internet technology this year.
Reportedly better location targeting (based on the whereonearth acquisition) is also part of Panama, as are other methodologies (e.g., behavioral) and media (e.g., video). Here's more from Riva Richmond at the WSJ (sub. req'd) and the Financial Times (via MSNBC).
