Is it differentiation or desperation? That's still to be decided but Yahoo definitely thinks the former when it comes to its introduction of rich media to search adverts.
But when you look at the figures you may be inclined to disagree... Google is closing in on a 90% market share of the UK search market whilst Yahoo has slumped to around 5%.
However, with its new ‘Rich Ads in Search’ program, Yahoo is allowing advertisers to include images, video and even site search forms with their search advertisements.
According to Yahoo: “Ever since we launched pay-per-click advertising, the ads have looked more or less the same: A headline, a line of ad copy, a link. They haven’t changed because, frankly, the combination works pretty well. But what if search ads could show more?”
By offering advertisers the ability to use rich media, Yahoo claims that some have seen their "click-through rates rise by as much as 25 percent." That's obviously a big jump and potentially very good news for advertisers.
But is this at the expense of the user experience? Obviously, the use of images and video will make adverts more noticeable to users, who will in turn be more likely to click on them. In the past, it has been revealed that many users - perhaps a majority - cannot distinguish between paid search ads and organic listings.
In the end, Rich Ads in Search's viability will come down to ROI. These online advertisements have to not only deliver results beyond clickthroughs, they have to deliver results when the cost of producing more creative is factored in to the equation. The cost of which could be comparable to a considerable number of clickthroughs on Google (especially considering their 90% market share), which means I might have a hard time justifying it to a client without some good solid research.
Currently Yahoo says the program is being used by "a small number of brand advertisers such as Pedigree and Esurance” and we'll look forward to hearing the results!