NTT, Microsoft team up for online advertising

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NTT and Microsoft have teamed up to jointly market online ads on major web portals starting in April. The companies aim to forge a broad alliance which will eventually include social-networking sites, targeting advertising revenues of 20-30 billion yen in five years.

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Currently slated to participate are NTT-operated portals goo, OCN and plala; Microsoft’s MSN; the gateways of So-net Entertainment Corp and Nifty Corp; and Dwango Co’s Nico Nico Douga video-sharing site. The NTT-Microsoft camp currently ranks the second in Japan, far behind the industry leader Yahoo! Japan, but ahead of Google.

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The joint marketing effort will focus on banner ads, with orders placed through the alliance distributed to all of the participating sites. NTT and Microsoft will also work together to develop ways to get a better grasp of ads’ effectiveness.

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Amid the current economic slowdown, with companies cutting back advertising expenses, Internet companies which count on online ad revenues are seeking to cut costs and improve operational efficiency.

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