Will Google/Yahoo! live up to the hype?

Ivan Izikowitz of Clicks2Customers comments on the Google/Yahoo! advertising deal.

The Google/Yahoo! announcement is further evidence of a market that is desperately struggling to live up to its own hype.

While search marketing is a sound advertising medium based on solid business principles, many of the major players have set themselves up to continue to deliver financial performance and growth in what is a maturing and (some might say) saturated market.

Competition in any marketplace is good for the consumer and, ironically, good for the suppliers too by providing an incentive to keep evolving and improving their propositions.

Just think of what the PC desktop software market might be like today if Microsoft hadn't had exclusive domain of the operating systems.

Where it was simple to understand the motivations for the Google/Myspace deal, this announcement does leave one slightly perplexed as to the long game.

Some insiders have mooted the ability to manage and deliver campaigns on both Google/Yahoo! without using Panama.

The implication is that advertisers will end up paying Google prices as an intermediary for placement on a different channel.

This is nothing short of ridiculous.

While I'm certain that this is only yet another in the line of perplexing "business tie-up announcements", there is still some way to go and some hurdles to overcome.

Let's wait and see but with all the hype, the only real certainty is that the eventual outcome will be underwhelming.

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